


The Gladiator Games

by AidanChase



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Hunger Games AU, M/M, this is your warning now major players will die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-08 02:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5480450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AidanChase/pseuds/AidanChase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy Jackson’s mother is ill and there are no doctors in District II or VII that can save her. His only chance is winning immortality in The Gladiator Games and giving it to her. He’s been training for them his whole life, but he’ll have to kill 23 other children, many of them half-bloods like him, to get what he’s after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Volunteer

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm sorry Percy and Rachel are together in this fic. I'm Percabeth trash and all I can do is promise that Percabeth will be endgame. Also I 100% promise that characters you love will die, so read at your own risk.

The first thing Percy did when he got home was take a shower. 

He liked being in the water, and he liked the control he had over it. But he hated that he couldn’t control his sweat, and lately his Career training had been so aggressive that he always came home from practice drenched. It was a new experience, and he did not like it one bit, but it was necessary. His time was quickly running short.

So he let the water soak his skin and refresh him. He let it carry away the dirt that had accumulated during his training, and when he felt properly soaked, he stepped out of the shower and back into the marble bathroom.

He took a towel from one of the satyrs and rubbed his hair down aggressively. He didn’t bother to brush it flat. His girlfriend preferred the mess, and so did he. 

He’d only just tossed his comfortable gray t-shirt over his head when there was a knock at the bathroom door.

“Percy,” her voice called, “I’m coming in, decent or not.”

“Well, I’m decent, so you lose,” he laughed as she opened the door.

She met him halfway and the first thing they did was kiss. He tightened his hand in her curls and laughed when they separated. It felt good to laugh. It gave him the strength he was going to need to tell her his plan.

“You’re wearing this?” she said, and pointed at his shirt.

“It’s comfortable.”

“You look like the dead.”

Percy made a face at her. As if she was one to talk, in her paint-splattered pants that looked less like fashionable beach wear and more like she got stuck in the outskirts of District VI painting murals. But that was part of what he liked about her. She didn’t hold herself to the standards of District II. She was free-spirited and as uncontrollable as the ocean itself. They got along well, or, rather, they understood each other well, as even the ocean clashes with itself in violent tempests.

Percy sat with his girlfriend on the couch in the parlor, as they often did. She reached over him and grabbed the control for the window. She set it to their favorite scene--the ocean, rolling lazily up over the beach--before settling into his chest.

Percy let her rest there for a moment while he framed the words he needed to say in his head. He tried to think of a way he could say them without upsetting her, but they didn’t seem to order themselves in any sensible way. He was always bad at words.

“Rachel, we need to talk,” he finally said.

“No we don’t. Just let me have this a little longer,” she said.

It was like she knew what he was going to say. She always seemed to know what he was going to say or do before he did it. 

“The Reaping’s tomorrow.”

“Percy.” Her voice was a warning. She was telling him not to talk about it. He ignored it, because he wasn’t sure he’d have the courage any other time.

“I’m going to volunteer.”

She slapped him and left the couch. He deserved it, he knew. But he couldn’t let her walk away without at least trying to calm her down, so he got up and followed her into the kitchen.

The satyrs that had been preparing dinner quickly disappeared to give their fight at least a semblance of privacy. Percy and Rachel tended to fight loudly.

“Volunteering has always been the plan,” he said, as the swinging door closed behind the satyrs. “It’s just a little earlier than planned.”

“Sixteen,” she said. “Sixteen has always been the recommended volunteer age. Seventeen is preferred. You’re only fifteen! There’s no reason you should volunteer.”

“You know why I want to volunteer,” he said.

He knew Rachel tried not to look up, but she did. Upstairs, where his mother was resting. Resting, the doctors said. Always resting. Never dying, but Percy knew. He knew she wouldn’t live much longer, and there was no way to save her except to volunteer in the Gladiator Games.

“It can wait,” she said, but even as she said it, Percy knew she didn’t believe it.

“I have to win immortality for her. It’s the only option.”

Rachel stared at a silver mixing bowl filled with half-crushed grapes. Percy thought of at least five things she could say to change his mind. Five things she could say to make him stay. Rachel had to know what they were--she always knew--but she didn’t say any of them. She only said, “I wish you wouldn’t.”

“I have to.”

“Bye, Percy,” she said, and kissed the corner of his mouth. She left.

Their last day together, cut short because he had to tell her. Maybe he should have let her find out at the Reaping tomorrow.

Percy waited in the kitchen until he heard the front door slam shut and the vase of flowers crash to the floor. He didn’t know why the satyrs always put fresh flowers by the door. He and Rachel had fought so much over the last two years, they must’ve gone through a hundred vases. It had become a strange symbol of the simultaneous fragility of their relationship and its permanence. Always breaking, but always there.

Percy took a deep breath and went upstairs to his mother’s room.

The latest doctor, called in all the way from District VII, was at her bedside making notes on a piece of paper. He smiled at Percy--they always smiled at Percy--and said, “I think she’s doing better. She woke up this afternoon and asked for you.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” Percy tried not to be angry, but anger was such an easy emotion these days.

“You asked me not to interrupt your Career training this week. You were quite clear about wishing to focus.”

Percy bit down on his tongue. He knew he’d said that, but his mother waking up was important. He didn’t know how many days he had left with her, and if he didn’t win the games…. 

He debated about not even telling her his decision to volunteer so early. Maybe it would be better if she didn’t know, if she didn’t worry. But he also knew he couldn’t do that to her.

When he was twelve, he’d left to train alone on an island for an entire summer, and he hadn’t told her where he was going. He’d come home after surviving three months of dangers in the wild only to nearly be killed by his own mother’s guilt-tripping.

She'd always tried to be understanding, but Percy knew she'd never supported the Games. Of course, she'd never said so. There was always the worry of being struck down by lightning for saying anything against the games, but she’d been very clear that she had never approved of his choice to become a Career and win for her.

But she’d always been sick, and there’d never been a cure. He’d known at the age of seven that the only way to save her would be to win immortality.

And, after all, he was a demigod. It was expected for him to compete in the games and win. He had an advantage over legacies and mortals. He had powers, and he had an automatic blessing. Of course, he had automatic enemies, like Athena, but when he volunteered at the Reaping tomorrow, no one would doubt as he stepped into the temple of Poseidon that he would meet with anything less than wholehearted approval.

His immortal father would bless him without question. It was his mortal mother he worried about.

Percy fell asleep at his mother’s bedside, waiting for her to wake.

\--- --- ---

Jason Grace could not sleep. He tossed in his bunk anxiously, afraid to slip into dreams, but knowing he couldn’t stay exhausted forever. Every night this week, the dream had come: Volunteer in the Games. Bring glory to your god and your district. Save Olympus.

Jason did not want to volunteer.

He was barely fifteen. His older sister, Thalia, had just turned sixteen, and would be volunteering. He would have to compete against her. He didn’t want that.

He’d always known he would have to compete, but he never wanted it to be like this. He never wanted it to be against family. He never wanted to be so young.

He closed his eyes, just for a moment, and the dream came. He couldn’t even be sure he fell asleep, but there it was, the loud, strong voice, demanding he volunteer and bring pride to his district.

The glory of volunteering was that you were making a conscious choice to serve your district and bring glory to your patron.

Jason didn’t feel like he had much of a choice.

\--- --- ---

Percy heard humming before he was fully awake. He thought he was still dreaming, but the warm summer sunlight was too real.

“Draw the curtains,” he mumbled without opening his eyes. “It’s going to get too hot for her.”

“Percy,” his mother’s voice said in a gentle laugh, “I asked them to open the curtains.”

He opened his eyes and saw his mother sitting up in bed with a paper and pen in her lap.

“You should be resting,” he said, and reached for her pen.

She moved her hand out of his reach and stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m your mother. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

Percy laughed. And then he remembered what he had to tell her.

He said nothing for a while, even as the satyrs brought him breakfast. It wasn’t until he’d finished his eggs that he finally found the courage to speak.

“Mom,” he started slowly, as she scribbled another sentence onto the paper. “I’m volunteering today.”

She paused. “You didn’t turn sixteen while I was sleeping, did you?”

“I’m nearly sixteen. And the doctors don’t think you’ll have another year to wait for me. If I don’t do it now, it will all have been for nothing.”

She sighed and shuffled through the papers in front of her. Percy didn’t understand why she used paper and pen. No one used paper and pen anymore, but she’d always insisted. She was strange, different from the way Olympia worked. He wondered if that’s why Poseidon had chosen her, a woman who was as carefree as the sea, and unable to be swayed by the control of Zeus and Olympus.

“Percy, I don’t want to be immortal.”

“I don’t want you to die.”

“I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve watched you grow, and as much as I would like to see you become a young man, I’m afraid the Fates don’t agree.”

“If I don’t do this, I’ll always wonder what if I had. I’ll always think I could have saved you.”

“You still have a very immature concept of saving someone.” She flipped through her papers without really looking at them. “I don’t want you to volunteer. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I don’t want to lose you.”

Her lips pressed together in a very thin line. Even though Percy knew of several ways Rachel could have made him stay, he did not think there was anything his mother could say to make him stay. They had already had these fights, many times, over many years. They had been unable to persuade each other either way. Percy had always known he was going to do this, and his mother had always told him not to.

“Did you tell Rachel?” she finally said.

“She told me to wait, but there’s no point in waiting. It has to be now.”

There were tears in her eyes, and she avoided looking at him as she said, “I can’t give you my blessing.”

Those were the worst words Percy could have heard. Blessings and curses went a long way in this world, and a blessing from his mother might have protected him.

“Not that I want to hurt you,” she added hastily, “but I wouldn’t mean it if I said it.” And they both knew that a half-given blessing was as bad as a curse.

She started crying and Percy hugged her. Percy cried, too.

They held each other until the doctor came to check her blood. Percy knew that was his cue to leave.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “I’ll win.”

Those words didn’t seem to encourage her. He kissed her cheek and left his mother’s bedroom. If he’d known he would never return again, he might not have left.

\--- --- ---

Frank Zhang wanted to kiss his grandmother goodbye, but she wasn’t the most affectionate woman he’d ever known. She’d prepared him to volunteer his whole life. He was a demigod, a son of Mars. It was expected. Children of Mars and Ares were never Reaped. It was disgraceful to come of age and choose not to compete. His mother had kept him from volunteering for a long time, but she was gone now. It was just him and his grandmother, and his grandmother knew there was not much more she could do to keep him safe.

“I know you’ll win and return a hero,” were his grandmother’s final words as he left home for the Reaping.

Bitterly, Frank thought that there wasn’t any other option. If he didn’t return a hero, then he wouldn’t return at all.

\--- --- ---

Percy waited in the crowds for the District II escort to read the usual Opening Ceremonies: the reminders of a distant war, with Titans and Giants, and the founding of the games; of the more recent Underworld rebellion, and the result of Hades being banished from Olympus; and finally, the order that Olympus had maintained for millennia. They spoke of the eternal pride and glory Gladiators brought to their districts, along with the hope of immortality for the victors and the promise of Elysium for the fallen. He fidgeted anxiously, running through the list of seventeen-year-old girls that he’d been training with, trying to think which of the Careers would be his partner and competitor.

“First the girls,” the escort said, and there was a clamour of shouts from the Volunteers.

Percy watched in horror as Rachel was pulled onto the stage.

“Our female volunteer, Rachel Elizabeth Dare,” the escort said, and raised her hand. “And our male competitor--”

Percy was so shocked, he almost forgot to run forward. But now it was doubly important for him to compete. If he failed, Rachel had to win. She would need him. He pushed one of the older boys he’d been training with out of the way, and physically climbed on top of a very tall boy with wild hair before leaping onto the stage. “I volunteer!” he shouted.

The crowd erupted into a cheer. It had been a long time since a demigod son of Poseidon competed. There was sure to be a victory for their district. But the roar of the crowd was the furthest thing from his mind. He was staring at Rachel, wondering what had gotten into her head. She had been unhappy with him for his decision, so she did this? Was it some awful, misguided revenge quest?

“And now your Gladiators will seek the approval of the gods!” the escort said.

Percy felt a rush of hope as he and Rachel approached the temple. They still needed Poseidon’s blessing to compete. It was something all Careers worried about and agonized over. Some would train for years and when the time came, they were turned away by their District’s godly patron. Percy had never worried about that.

Now Percy’s only hope to keep Rachel from competing was for Poseidon to tell her she could not.

Percy and Rachel stepped into the temple.

\--- --- ---

Annabeth walked forward with her head held high. She had expected this moment for many years, but she had not expected to step forward alone.

She had been reaped, true, but she was ready. All children of Athena were. All children of Athena questioned the wisdom competing in the games--was a guarantee of Elysium worth the sacrifice?--but they knew how equally unwise it was to disobey the power of Zeus. So they competed without complaint.

This year, two girls had been reaped ahead of her. Two very intelligent girls--a talented artist, and a gifted judge-in-the-making--had gone ahead and come away without Athena’s blessing. Annabeth now went third, anxious, and unsure if she wanted her mother’s approval or if she wanted to return home and continue to pursue her education in architecture.

Standing in the temple was another boy, Malcolm. Annabeth knew him to be a demigod like her, a son of Athena. He had been reaped and must have met with approval, or he would have been sent away like the other two girls. What did he have that they didn’t? And did Annabeth have it? Did she even want it?

Beside the boy stood a woman Annabeth had only seen in her dreams, but she was no less lovely in the waking.

Her face was dark like a soldier’s, but her hands were pale and delicate as she opened them for Annabeth.

“Welcome, daughter, to my temple.”

It was a wonderful work of architecture. Annabeth had studied it many times, admired its structure, and dreamed of building her own someday.

The roof was arched, and decorated with intricate bands of gold and silver. The pillars were tall, polished, carved, and gilded. And in the light of her mother’s godly glow, it was even more beautiful than she’d ever seen it before.

Annabeth bowed before her mother. “Thank you, Mother.”

“Do you wish to compete in the games and bring glory to your home, your mother, and win immortality?”

The thought of immortality surged through Annabeth, the thought of being as permanent as the things she wanted to create.

“Yes, yes I do.”

“Then you have my blessing. Both of you, go, and bring honor to your district and pride to your mother.”

Annabeth and Malcolm bowed and left the temple.

\--- --- ---

Percy had never been to another god’s temple, but he knew from school books that they weren’t all open-air like his father’s. Once he’d learned that, he had lost his desire to see them.

He and Rachel looked out onto the ocean from the temple on the cliff. The sea breeze was strong. There were clouds on the horizon. As Percy and Rachel watched, the white clouds grew heavy and the ocean stirred with discontent. Percy had never been happier to see a tempest brewing. His father was going to deny Rachel access to the games. She’d be safe.

“My gladiators,” a deep voice rumbled from behind them. It was low, coursing through Percy like the deep note of a bass drum, or a wave crashing against his chest.

Percy and Rachel turned around to face Poseidon, seated on the steps, off to the side of the door. He was leaning against one of the pillars of the temple. His eyes were stormy, but his posture was calm. When their eyes met, Percy could feel the ocean relax with his father.

“My son. You have your mother’s spirit, and mine. You have my blessing to compete in the games.”

Percy bowed, and felt excited as the ocean returned to the beginnings of a tempest.

“Rachel Elizabeth Dare,” Poseidon said. It felt more like being tossed in a wave than simply struck with one.

“I will compete,” she said, before he could say anything else. “With or without your blessing.”

If Percy hadn’t been so terrified of Rachel competing, he would have been proud of her determination.

“You are neither demigod nor legacy,” Poseidon said with a voice like rolling thunder. “I would prefer my blood compete in this tournament.”

“Mortals compete all the time,” she said. “And I am the only one in this district who will defend Percy with my life. Any other competitor you choose will have their own interests at heart. You can trust me with Percy, and I know how badly you want him to win.”

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Percy wondered if that was Zeus’s anger or Poseidon’s. It could be difficult to tell the difference out here on the beach.

“If you know how badly I want Percy to win,” Poseidon said in a low voice, “then you know why I would prefer a demigod or a legacy at his side.”

Rachel said nothing more to argue her case. She only stood at Percy’s side, head held high, brightly colored curls whipping around her face in the wind. Her green eyes looked as fierce as any storm Percy had ever seen. 

Poseidon studied her for a very long moment, examining both her and something beyond her. “Very well,” he finally said, and Percy felt as if he’d been shoved underwater only to find he couldn’t breathe. “I give you both my blessing. Go, and bring pride to your district and your god.”

“Rachel--” Percy said, but he had no breath in his words.

She bowed to Poseidon, and left the temple. Percy bowed hastily before running to catch up with her. He did not understand what had happened between Poseidon and Rachel, but he had no choice but to follow. He was deaf to the cheers of the crowds as their district celebrated their new Gladiators.

\--- --- ---

There were no cheers for Nico di Angelo and Hazel Levesque. They stepped onto the shore across the river, and the only sound was the crunching of their boots on broken shells.

“I don’t want to do this,” Hazel whispered, a secret she’d been afraid to breathe since the moment their quest was presented to them.

“We don’t have a choice,” Nico whispered back and held his hand out to her. His only hope was that he could get one last glance of his elder sister, and then he would be content to let Hazel take the victory for his father’s district.


	2. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy and Rachel begin to form alliances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably should've mentioned earlier, but in case it isn't obvious District#=Cabin#. This only deviates for Hades and Poseidon. Zeus and Hera share District I, Poseidon is District II, and Hades is District III, so the 3 eldest gods are first. From there, gods are ordered by cabin number.

Percy Jackson and Rachel Elizabeth Dare arrived in Olympus early that afternoon. They were given the full tour and shown to their rooms on the second floor from the top of the Gladiator Rise, for District II.

They met with their design team at dinner, and discussed costume ideas over fresh fruit from District XI and fish so fresh it could only have come from home along with them. Their designer, Eurybia, was no stranger to the Gladiator Games and their ruthlessness. She’d personally known Hercules, back when he was a Gladiator for District I. 

Percy felt surprisingly comfortable, for being only a week from battle. Olympus felt like home, but with more gold and less ocean spray. And since each floor was designed for each district, there was a room on their floor that was just a pool. No surrounding floor, nothing. Just a door into a room of salt water. Percy thought he might sleep there instead of in his bed.

Rachel stayed close to him as they toured the city, like she expected another gladiator to attack him before the games began. He hoped she wouldn’t take her oath to Poseidon too seriously. Just as Rachel was determined to protect him, he was determined to protect her. Surely he could trust her to use the immortality to save his mother.

Their second morning was all cleaning and primping. Percy saw Rachel for a total of thirty minutes between showers, hair, and costumes. It wasn’t until that evening, when they were next to their chariot, that they had a minute to talk and breathe.

Percy leaned against one of the horses and ruffled its mane. It’s hair was decorated with white pearls that reminded Percy of seafoam when the horse tossed his head. When he was little, he used to think it was silly that his father was the god of horses and the ocean. Horses were so land-like. But then Percy tried to ride a horse and he understood they had the spirit of the sea in them. Like him. Like his mother.

Rachel nudged him with her shoulder. He looked first at her, taking in her flowing, iridescent dress and her red curls done up in pearls. She looked like a goddess with freckles, and Percy thought more goddesses should have freckles.

“Check out the kids from one,” Rachel whispered.

Percy glanced over at the chariot in front of them. Their horses were pure white, and the entire chariot gilded. The boy and the girl were dressed in white togas with gold fastenings. His hair was golden, and had wisps like clouds drifting in it. Hers was dark, and white streaks crackled through it like lightning. She made eye contact with Percy and a shiver ran down his spine.

“They feel powerful,” he murmured.

Rachel looked around to the other competition. “There are a lot of demigods here. I think… I think I’m the only mortal this year.”

Percy wrapped a protective arm around Rachel’s shoulder and eyed the competition.

“That’s not going to help our chances with alliances,” Rachel murmured.

“What?”

“You’re doing that thing you do when you get protective. Your eyes turn into a storm and the literal air changes around you. No one wants to get near you when you do that.”

Percy tried to relax. It wasn’t easy. He felt Rachel stiffen in his arms.

“I’m trying,” he said.

“Not you.” She pulled herself out of his arms and turned to the back of the waiting area. 

Percy turned his head and he felt a wave of power like that of the kids from District I. A boy and a girl, as opposite to each other as the District I competitors had been, stood in a black chariot. The boy was pale, with dark hair, and the girl was dark-skinned with burnt orange curls, bigger than Rachel’s. Both were dressed in all black, like they were attending a funeral.

That thought burned in the back of Percy’s mind, like an oil-lit torch, and he had nothing to extinguish it with.

“Hades,” he breathed.

Rachel nodded. “District Three is competing. Hades wants back into Olympus. It’s why all the gods were determined to have demigods as their gladiators. They’re afraid Hades will win.”

“How did you know that?”

Rachel didn’t answer. She only climbed into the chariot, and as District I’s chariot rolled out into the stadium, Percy had no choice but to jump on with Rachel before he was left behind.

The crowds were already a deafening roar for District I, and there was no decrease in enthusiasm for District II. Three powerful demigods were in play. It was going to be an exciting game.

Their chariot rolled down the aisle towards the twelve thrones at the end of the stadium. Zeus and Hera sat in the center, and the other ten gods fanned out around them. He saw no sign of Hades. Percy didn’t know if that was good or bad.

By the time District VIII’s combatants were announced, the crowd was overwhelmed by the sheer power in the stadium. Most, if not all, of the combatants were demigods. Percy felt worried. He’d expected one, maybe two demigods. But for all the gladiators to be nearly as powerful as him…. He suddenly wasn’t so sure of his victory.

As the final chariot rolled into the stadium, the crowd went silent. Percy looked up on the screens and saw two young children who looked absolutely terrifying. The fair-skinned boy looked like he was a skeleton projecting flesh, and the dark-skinned girl looked as deadly as a reaper. Percy was surprised they weren’t wielding scythes.

Their black horses were dressed in skeleton armor, giving them the image they’d been risen from the dead. Percy felt a shiver run down his spine, different from the one he’d felt from the daughter of Zeus. He’d shivered because she felt powerful. These kids made him literally tremble in fear of death. Immortality sounded pretty good right now.

Zeus stood and raised his hands. “Welcome, Gladiators, to the 5,555th annual Gladiator Games.”

The crowd regained their enthusiasm and cheered.

“You’ll notice,” Zeus continued, “there are twelve districts represented. District III has returned to compete for a place in Olympia. There are twenty-four competitors this year. It will be the most exciting game we’ve seen in centuries.” He raised his goblet. “To immortality!”

The crowds cheered. The gladiators cheered. Percy wasn’t sure he felt like cheering, but he knew it was expected.

He still felt like the Hades kids had come to bury him alive.

\--- --- ---

Piper McLean slept like the dead. She hadn’t even realized how tired she was until she passed out as soon as she hit the mattress. It helped that the beds were as comfortable as sleeping on a huge bearskin rug. When she woke, her body was ready to train, even if her mind wasn’t.

Piper had spent her life actively avoiding anything that would make her mother proud. She’d been born a daughter of Aphrodite and had done everything she could to fight that label. She wore loose-fitting clothes, chopped up her hair, braided feathers into it, and studied everything she could about her Cherokee heritage. She ignored the Greek myths, especially the ones about Aphrodite.

When she was thirteen, she’d nearly been expelled from school for writing a paper on the origins of the earth from the Water-Beetle, instead of writing about Gaia. Expulsion might sound a little harsh, but it wasn’t exactly her first offense. She really wasn’t a fan of the Greeks.

Her father had been a victor, long ago, and was now enjoying his eternal youth making entertainment films. She had no intention of following in his footsteps. But after four other girls were denied Aphrodite’s blessing, Piper’s name had been drawn. She was furious. Sure, it was obvious, especially now that she was here, that the gods were all choosing demigods this year. For what reason, she didn’t know. But even with the requirement of competitors being demigods, there were plenty of other girls from District X that could have gone in her stead. Drew, for instance. Piper wouldn’t have minded at all if Drew had gone.

But she was the one who was here. Her name had been drawn, and she had received her mother’s blessing. It had been an embarrassing ride on the train, trying to chop out the perfect curls, while Michael Kahale watched with mild amusement every time they grew back.

Piper stretched, and thought about getting dressed for her day. But then her upper lip curled back when she saw the training suit the satyrs had laid out for her. It was covered in glitter. When she picked it up, it shed sparkles.

She would not be wearing that. Not without some modifications.

Piper dug through all the drawers in the bedroom, but couldn’t find what she was looking for. She tried the bathroom, but still had no luck. She threw on her silk robe and went in the elevator up to floor nine.

Was she allowed to visit other gladiators? Probably not, but Piper never cared much for rules.

The doors opened, and she stepped out into a floor so different from hers she wondered if it was the same building.

Aphrodite’s level was covered in pinks and flowers, roses and glitter. Everything was clean and smelled like perfume. Here, Piper smelled grease and oil, and everything on this floor was made out of metal.

Piper guessed what she was looking for would be in some sort of workshop. She picked a door and tried the handle. It led to a bathroom. Just to be thorough, she checked the drawers and cabinets and found nothing of use.

When she came out of the bathroom, she saw a boy at the dining table, apple halfway to his mouth.

He was scrawny, with messy black hair. She remembered him from the chariot display last night. He had looked a lot more intimidating when he and his partner were on fire. Right now he looked like a toothpick even she could snap, and she wasn’t a particularly powerful fighter.

“You’re not Nyssa,” he said, and she thought of about ten sarcastic comments she could answer with, but Piper had come with a purpose.

“I just was wondering if I could borrow sandpaper.” She put as much sweetness in the words as she could and she watched the change happen instantaneously.

The boy relaxed and nodded. “Sure thing, _chica_. This way.” He motioned for her to follow him and he led her through a locked door and into a workshop. He dug through a toolbox and handed her a sheet of sandpaper. “Will this be enough?”

“Plenty, thank you.”

“... Why do you need it again?”

Piper didn’t answer. She only kissed his cheek and went back down to her floor.

\--- --- ---

Percy and Rachel were the last ones to arrive at training that morning.

“I told you we were late,” Rachel said, and slapped his shoulder.

Percy grumbled something again about breakfast being the most important meal of the day, before looking up to observe the competition.

He and Rachel had gotten the list of names this morning, and he’d memorized the top ten. Thalia and Jason, both children of Zeus, were practicing sword combat with each other. They were good.

And a child of Ares--Clarisse La Rue--was practicing hand-to-hand combat with one of the trainers. She looked pretty vicious, and Percy winced as she knocked her trainer to the ground with a swift kick to his kneecaps.

“Let’s practice like, not combat,” Percy said.

“What do you need most of?” Rachel asked.

“Sleep.”

Rachel smacked him again. “Come on, let’s make some alliances. What about that scrawny kid over there, with the girl, playing with the camouflage paints. You like stray-looking-people.”

Percy scoffed at her comment. He recognized the girl as Piper McLean, one of Aphrodite’s kids, but her jumpsuit wasn’t glittery like the boy from her district. Her jumpsuit was scraped and torn in a few places, like she’d gone through a shredder before she’d come to practice. And the scrawny kid didn’t look too intimidating--until he lit up in flames and Percy realized he was Leo Valdez, one of the Hephaestus kids who had ridden into the Stadium on fire last night.

“Why don’t we do like, poison stuff? I’m not good at poisons.”

Percy and Rachel went over to the screen displaying different types of plants, with descriptions of which were poisonous and which were fake. This was one of Percy’s worst skills, because to learn it required reading, rather than experience. It was easy to learn how to dodge a left hook when the first ten times you messed up left a nasty bruise. Reading a page about a poisonous plant ten times did not have the same effect.

Rachel talked him through a lot of the plants for the first couple hours. He actually got sixty percent on the matching test. That was better than he’d gotten with any of his career trainers back home. Rachel, however wasn’t very impressed.

“I guess I’ll be doing all the food-finding,” she said.

“We could make friends with one of the District Four kids, and then we never have to bother with hunting for food.”

Rachel considered this, and looked over at a daughter of Demeter, practicing how to make a fire. “That’s actually a pretty smart idea. Maybe you wouldn’t die of stupidity without me. Maybe.”

Percy lightly shoved her and then proceeded to misidentify cannabis as aloe.

“I’m going to get some hand-to-hand combat training in,” Rachel said. “If I leave you alone, will you be okay?”

“Yeah. I think I want to try knife throwing.”

“Weren’t you banned from knife throwing at home when you were twelve?”

“That’s why I want to try it,” Percy grinned.

Rachel shook her head, but let him go.

Percy picked up one of the small handheld knives, weighted for tossing. He hadn’t held one in a long time. Not since he accidentally stabbed his teacher in the eye. His aim was really bad. And he had a hard time holding onto knives. They often went the wrong way. After three accidents, his teachers had decided the skill wasn’t worth it.

“You gonna stand there all day, or throw it, Jackson?” a voice behind him snapped.

He saw the girl from District VI, her curly blonde hair spilling out of her ponytail, and a sheen of sweat on her forehead from hand-to-hand training.

“How’d you know my name?” he asked.

“Everyone knows your name,” she rolled her eyes. “You Careers are all the same.” She grabbed one of the knives and threw it at the body-shaped target twelve feet away. It thudded just shy of center.

Percy, ever-friendly, grinned and said, “I’m pretty sure I can’t beat that, but I’ll give it my best shot. You might want to stand back for your own safety.”

She frowned at him, but took a step back.

“Maybe a little farther?”

She raised an eyebrow and took about five steps back.

“Yeah, that should be okay. I just don’t want either of us disqualified.” And Percy threw the knife. It sailed over the target and bounced harmlessly off the wall behind. “Well, at least I didn’t drop it that time.”

“What kind of career are you?” the girl snapped.

“One who sucks at knife throwing.”

“What else do you suck at?” she asked with a grin, and he was about to tell her he was pretty bad at plant identification when he realized she was only digging for his weaknesses.

He frowned. Maybe he was no good without Rachel to watch his back. “I really suck at swimming,” he said.

She laughed. “As if I would believe that.”

“No, really, push me in the water, and I’ll just drown. Terrified of water. Absolutely terrified.”

The girl snorted. “Well, if you aren’t going to practice knife throwing, stand aside so I can.”

“I was going to practice. Why don’t you show me?”

“I don’t have time to waste teaching Careers better ways to kill me, thanks.” She tossed her head in a way that reminded Percy of his favorite horse back home, with her bushy ponytail swishing, and she all but shoved him out of the way to stand before the knife rack.

Percy felt like he’d been hit with one of her knives. He’d only been trying to be friendly. In fact, he’d actually forgotten that in a week all these people would become his enemies. This girl had no interest in building an alliance with him and he wondered if anyone would trust him enough to be his ally.

With this thought, Percy went to help Rachel learn combat, but it looked like she already found a partner. A lean kid, with blonde curly hair. Percy didn’t recognize him. He must not have been in the top ten for combatants this year. Then again, neither was Rachel, and Percy was terrified of her.

An instructor nearby was giving Rachel and her partner pointers, and they were laughing with each other. It wasn’t jealousy that stabbed at Percy’s stomach, but a sort of grief, similar to the way he felt when he watched his mother sleep. A sense of impermanence.

Percy decided to give camouflage a try. It was empty now. Most of the gladiators were gathering around the archers. It seemed like a competition had already begun on who could shoot the fastest and most accurately. Thalia Grace had joined them. The boy from District V--Frank Zhang--watched anxiously and made no move to participate. Percy wondered what all that was about, but he didn’t really want to go over and ask. No need for a repeat of what had just happened with the girl from District VI.

While everyone else watched the archery competition, Percy studied the different camouflage techniques. He liked pictures better than reading, but he wasn’t too keen on grass and forests. He wondered if there was anything for water camouflage. Hiding in the water and jumping out unexpectedly sounded like a really cool idea.

Just as Percy was sponging sand-colored grains onto his dark arm, something moved beside him. He yelped and fell backwards. Nico di Angelo melted out of the shadows. He still looked part shadow--slightly see-through, if he moved too fast--and looked as dead as he had in the games.

Percy’s heart was hammering but he tried to sound cool and unaffected as he said, “Clearly you don’t need help with camouflage.” He laughed a little, but no expression flickered across Nico’s face. “Tough crowd,” Percy muttered and went back to dabbing the sponge on his arm. He felt like it looked less like it could blend into sand and more like he’d gotten wet and rolled all over a beach. 

Nico’s eyes kept flickering towards the archery range, so Percy said, “If you want to shoot, go shoot. They should be wrapping up their competition by now.”

Nico snorted. “I have better long-range tactics.”

“Oh, really? Cool, like what?”

“As if I would reveal that information to you.”

Again, Percy realized this was a competition, and all small talk was just part of the game. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he tried, but the damage had been done. With no intention of building an alliance or false sense of trust or anything, he asked, “Would you mind just showing me how you do that blending in thing?” He held his arm up to Nico. “I’m really not getting the hang of this.”

“You’re supposed to use the Mist. The paints are just for visualizing.”

Percy frowned. He’d never been good at manipulating the Mist. He’d tried a lot. Maybe this week of training wasn’t the right time to get a crash-course in everything he’d sucked at during career training. Maybe he should be practicing combat with Rachel. But the thought of teaching Rachel to fight made his heart hurt, and the thought of demonstrating his powers in front of all these kids sounded like painting a target on his back.

Percy tossed the sponge aside and scrubbed at his arms. “I’m Percy, by the way,” he said with a smile, hoping to reestablish some line of friendship.

“I know,” Nico said. Which Percy thought was fair, since he already knew Nico’s name as well.

He noticed Nico’s eyes drifting back to the archery tournament. He tried to remember who was over there, that Nico could be so interested in.

Of course some of the competitors were the kids from District VII and VIII. Artemis never chose a male gladiator, so Apollo made up for it by not approving any girls from his district. It worked out, mostly. They were always the best archers. Their silver and gold lined training outfits were unmistakeable. Two girls were competing, but only one of the boys.

The fourth archer was Thalia, daughter of Zeus. He wondered if she shot lightning bolts like arrows. That could be terrifying. He’d been taught that District I kids prefered spears, but maybe she was an exception.

“I could show you how to shoot a bow, if you want to give it a shot,” Percy said. “I’m not Apollo, but I’m not bad.”

Nico did not seem amused by the offer or the pun. But then he said, “Sure.”

Percy and Nico picked the target farthest from the competition. Percy grabbed a bow he knew was similar to the size of his own bow back home, then took a long look at Nico before choosing a smaller one.

“I’m not that short,” Nico scoffed and took the bow.

“Your arms are,” Percy said. “Trust me, you’ll get more punch out of it.”

“I trained with a larger one.”

“Then maybe that’s why you suck at it,” Percy grinned and pulled a bag of arrows closer to them. “Try it out.”

Nico did not look pleased, but he hadn’t looked pleased all morning. He notched the arrow and drew the string back. He struggled a bit as the string got taut, and when he fired, his shaky grip threw his arrow off-target by a good twelve inches.

“Yeah, you definitely’ve been training with the wrong bow size,” Percy nodded. “You can’t even pull it back all the way. Watch.”

He demonstrated for Nico just how far back the string was supposed to go. He pointed out how it was all about arm span, not just height, in order to maximize the force necessary to launch the arrow. Percy had been through enough awkward growth spurts and bow-resizing throughout his eight years of training to know what he was talking about.

When he launched the arrow, it was only a few inches off-center.

“I’m better with a sword,” he laughed, “but, hey, maybe you’ll do a lot better with a proper bow size.” He clapped Nico on the shoulder and said, “I’m going to go check on Rachel, since she’s my partner, but let me know if you have any questions.”

Percy left Nico and stepped around the group of archers--it was down to Thalia and the darker-skinned girl from District VIII. Percy noticed the paler girl from District VIII standing off to the side by the boy from Apollo, and he realized she looked a lot like Nico. That same sullen, pale look. Though she looked less see-through. Maybe it was the solid black training suit with silver piping. He guessed she must be Bianca di Angelo. She’d been on the top ten list. He was surprised she lost. The other archer from District VIII hadn’t been on the list. He wasn’t even sure she was a demigod.

But she was holding her own against Thalia. The intensity coming off the last two girls was enough to make Percy think he wanted to be on the other side of the training room when someone was named a winner.

He walked over to the hand-to-hand combat station. It didn’t look like Rachel and the boy were really fighting, which was probably good because if one of them got seriously hurt, both would be disqualified. They were going through all the basics, like Percy had when he was eight, and just starting to learn.

“Are you guys going to really be at fighting strength in a week?” he asked, and leaned against the rope boundaries of the combat ring.

Rachel smiled at him. “I figured I can practice what I learn on you.”

“Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean you won’t get disqualified for injuring me.”

She laughed and led the blonde kid over to Percy. Now that they were closer, Percy could see the gold piping in his suit--District VII.

Percy extended his hand politely. “You’re not competing in the archery contest?”

“Not my talent,” he said with a smile. “I have other gifts from my father.”

Another demigod, Percy thought. As they shook hands, he said, “I’m Percy.”

“Will Solace. Nice to meet you. Rumor has it you’re the victor everyone’s betting on this year.”

Percy thought back to his conversations with the girl from District VI and Nico, and how cold and sharp both had been with him, because they knew who he was. Will, however, was pleasant, like they were just meeting for a cup of coffee. Percy instantly liked him.

“So I keep hearing,” Percy said. “Can’t imagine why. I’ve completely failed the last three tasks I tried.”

“You and Jason Grace”--Will nodded to the tall, blonde boy in a sky-blue jacket--“are the most powerful fighters in this room. It’s not a hard thing to see, even though neither of you are showing off today.

Percy looked over at Jason and frowned. Jason really hadn’t done anything except stand next to Thalia while she shot arrows.

He wondered if Jason also had no desire to show off his skills in training.

“Don’t let Will make you think Jason’s your only competition,” Rachel said. “There are a lot of powerful demigods in here.”

Rachel always had a way of seeing people for what they were, rather than how they tried to be. Percy had no idea why she’d ever liked him, because who he tried to be was so much cooler than who he actually was. But that was probably why they got along so well, and why they fought so much. She knew him. And he could tell by the look in her bright green eyes, she was getting to know everyone in this room.

Percy ran through the top ten names he’d learned this morning. “Me, Jason, and Thalia are the kids of Zeus and Poseidon, so, yeah, we’re going to be the big deal this year.”

“Nico and Hazel,” Rachel added, “as the children of Hades, are going to be just as dangerous.”

Percy counted five on one hand, for the names he and Rachel had already listed, and then with his other added, “Frank Zhang, Bianca di Angelo, Clarisse La Rue, Leo Valdez, and Piper McLean. What did you learn about them?”

“Frank’s been keeping his head as low as you and Jason.” She nodded over to the archery range. “He’s not afraid to be shown up. He’s afraid to show off. And probably a good fear, too. Thalia might be able to get a blessing from Artemis by winning, but Frank would only piss her off by showing up her archers.”

“Have any blessings been given out today?” Percy asked as he looked around.

Rachel shook her head. “The only godly blessing is on Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, but it’s left over from her reaping, and its fading. It’s pretty rare to get a blessing like that when you’re reaped, but Piper’s powerful for a daughter of Aphrodite. She’s been using her charm on the boy from District IX. At least, I think she started off using it. She’s given up now, but he won’t leave her alone.”

“That’s Leo Valdez, right?” Will asked.

“Kid who can light himself on fire.” Percy felt a shiver run down his spine. He could usually extinguish fires okay, but it still made him nervous. “That’s going to get interesting.”

“As for Clarisse and Bianca,” Rachel said, “they’re both excellent in combat. Clarisse is powerful, and a well-known favorite of Ares. And Bianca’s not just an archer for Artemis--she’s a daughter of Hades.”

Percy raised an eyebrow. “So… if she wins, does Hades get restored to Olympus?”

“I think if she does something to earn Hades’ blessing, then yes. But he has to acknowledge her, and she has to accept him as a patron. She, Nico, and Hazel have big targets on their back. None of the gods want Hades restored. They’re going to encourage us to take those three out first.”

There was a shout from the archery range. Thalia raised her bow in triumph and Jason clapped her on the back. A silver coronet glistened around Thalia’s head, and her bow glowed with moonlight.

“There it is. Blessing of Artemis,” Rachel whispered. “The first blessing of the week and it’s not even a patron for their gladiator.”

Will let out a low whistle. “But this is normal, right? Artemis and Apollo almost always give the first gifts.”

“They’re notoriously easy to please,” Rachel agreed. “And usually Hermes and Demeter will be next, and Dionysus will wait until the celebration the night before.”

“And Mars and Athena will give their blessings when the games have begun.” Percy sighed, “And Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon never give blessings.”

“Zeus and Poseidon haven’t had children compete in a very long time. We don’t know what will happen,” Rachel said, and nudged his shoulder. She leaned over to whisper in his ear, “Don’t worry about it. We’re a team, right?”

As Percy nodded, the bell for the end of the training day rang.

Will climbed over the ropes. “Thanks for working with me, Rachel,” he said. “And tomorrow I’ll show you how to splint a broken bone, as promised.”

“And I’ll show you how to guard against illusions,” she said. “There are at least three skilled magic users here, so it’ll be a good defense trick to have.”

“Sounds like a plan. You should join us this time, Percy, since you don’t feel like showing off.” The way Will said it, like a friendly joke, so backwards from the way the girl from District VI had spoken with him, made Percy like him that much more.

“I think I will.” Percy said.

\--- --- ---

Leo Valdez ate his dinner half-heartedly. He was more interested in putting together this collection of metal rings and chains he’d nicked from the training center.

“Leo,” Nyssa started in that cautionary tone that already had him rolling his eyes. She had these leadership qualities that Leo really couldn’t stand. She was patient and reserved and never laughed at Leo’s jokes. He couldn’t say he liked her very much at all.

“I’m worried about how much time you spent with Piper McLean today.”

Leo shrugged his shoulders. “Ladies can’t resist me. I wonder what that makes you.”

Nyssa snorted. If she was offended by the insult to her femininity, she didn’t show it. “I’ll bet my dessert that you can’t figure out how to put those rings together without welding them.”

“I’m not going to waste my energy welding,” Leo scoffed. Admittedly, he had been thinking about it. But he didn’t like to make his flames hot enough to weld metal. It made him super hungry when he was done. And sometimes dizzy.

“You’re relying too much on your gifts to save you. You’re not going to win on those alone.”

“What are you, our mentor now?”

“Someone has to be!”

Hephaestus had never had a victor. Or, if they had one, it was so long ago they’d wandered off to enjoy immortality or become a god or something. Leo really wasn’t surprised they lost so much. Kids in District IX weren’t exactly fighters. They equipped people who were fighters. They worked with their hands. And sometimes, like in Leo’s case, they could light themselves on fire.

He supposed he couldn’t really blame Nyssa for being reserved. Hephaestus’ kids took reapings as a death sentence. Leo was the first hope they’d had in, well, a really long time. Since he could light on fire and all that, he might actually win in combat.

Immortality sounded pretty cool to Leo, but he didn’t exactly have anything to go back home to. Maybe that’s why Hephaestus had chosen him. He had power and nothing to lose. It was a deadly combination.

“Did you make any alliances today?” he asked Nyssa.

“I did. With Katie Gardner. It’s a good strategic decision. She can provide food, and I can provide shelter. We just need a strong defender, and I’m counting on you to be that for us. I don’t know what a daughter of Aphrodite could do for us, other than turn us against each other and kill us in our sleep.”

“Just because children of Aphrodite are known for manipulation doesn’t mean they’re backstab--Okay, fair, I see your point. But Piper’s chill, I promise.”

Nyssa did not look convinced. “I’d like to see her fight.”

“She doesn’t have to. All she has to do is work her charm on Jackson and the Graces, and we’ll be golden. All protected and everything. Then she can use her manipulation to turn the Career Pack against each other and we--” Leo finally slotted the silver rings together and laughed loudly. “That’s how it works!” He stretched the contraption in his fingers. “You didn’t tell me it was a net.”

“That’s why you can’t weld it,” Nyssa said. “You would’ve lost the elasticity.”

“I think someone owes me her dessert.” Leo folded the contraption up and tucked it into his pocket. He leaned over the table and reached for Nyssa’s chocolate covered strawberries.

\--- --- ---

Percy enjoyed day two of training a lot more than day one, for the most part anyway.

He and Rachel learned a lot about medical treatment for injuries on the field. Apparently Will sucked at archery because his real gift from his father was skill in medicine. Apollo was a god with a variety of talents. Percy was just glad neither Michael Yew nor Will Solace had Apollo’s gift of poetry.

The weird thing about the medical lesson was that Nico di Angelo joined them. And he didn’t look happy to be there.

Fair, almost no one was happy to be in the Gladiator Games, but Percy found Nico unusually pouty. Will didn’t seem to notice and went on with his lesson on splinting a broken bone.

First thing in the morning, while they were doing their medical lesson, Zoe Nightshade, the second-place-loser from yesterday’s archery tournament, challenged Thalia Grace to another archery duel. Thalia, hair still glistening with a silver halo, accepted.

The duel was much shorter than yesterday’s, and around the time Will finished showing them how to tie a proper tourniquet, Zoe had won back Artemis’s blessing from Thalia.

Rachel took them to the camouflage station to show them how to see through the Mist and fight illusions. That was how Nico introduced them to Hazel Levesque, and that was how Percy realized they were forming a real alliance. These people were trusting him with their skills and weaknesses, and it would only be fair if he trusted them with his.

That night, he and Rachel sat on the couch, indulging in the chocolate covered strawberries.

“I think I should show you guys how to use a sword tomorrow,” Percy said.

“I think Hazel and Nico are already trained with swords.”

Percy shrugged. “I imagine they could learn a thing or two from me, and I can learn something from them.”

Rachel was quiet for a long moment. Percy ate three strawberries before she finally said, “You’ve grown up a lot, you know.” She sounded incredibly sad, and Percy was hit with the painful thought that only one of them would win.

“Hey, it’s going to be fine. We’ll protect each other, no matter what. And whichever one of us wins will save my mother.”

“Percy, I don’t think--” but Rachel didn’t finish. Instead, she ate another strawberry.

Percy wondered what it was she wasn’t telling him. He wondered why she hadn’t stopped him from competing, and instead had volunteered herself. He wondered if she knew something about the games that he didn’t. He wasn’t sure he wanted to bring it up just yet. They had a week to themselves. They should enjoy it.

“So, speaking of alliances,” Percy said, “remember when you said the gods didn’t want Hades back in Olympus?”

“Yes.”

“And now… we’ve teamed up with two children of Hades? Do you think that’s bad in the way of blessings and stuff?”

“Probably hurts our chances a lot,” Rachel agreed.

“Okay. Just wanted to check. I see what you meant when you said I had a thing for strays.”

Rachel laughed and popped another strawberry in her mouth. When she was done chewing she kissed his cheek.

“Good night, Percy. I’ll see you in the morning.”

\--- --- ---

Hazel Levesque stared up at the starry ceiling of her bedroom. Hers and Nico’s first night had been something of a disaster. Technology was not something either of them had experience with and they had no one to help them out. She’d eventually figured out the displays in her room and shown Nico how to work his. He’d shown her how the shower worked. They were both still working on the television.

She’d set her bedroom to display a sparkling night sky, because she didn’t know how many of those she had left, and she wanted to enjoy the glimpse of life she’d been given again. She liked the way stars glittered like diamonds. It made her feel like there was no end between the sky and the earth, that it was truly all the same and just existing between them was enough.

But as relaxing as that thought was, she couldn’t sleep. She got up to get a glass of water and found Nico in the kitchen, sitting at a stool beside the counter top. He had his head down on the obsidian counter.

“I think a bed is more comfortable,” Hazel said.

He mumbled something about “cold granite” but she didn’t hear the rest of it.

Hazel poured a glass of water and set it on the counter next to Nico. Then she poured one for herself.

Nico sat up and reluctantly took a sip.

Hazel added a strawberry to her water. “So Percy’s nice.”

Nico sputtered on his water and set the glass down. “What?”

“Percy Jackson? He seems… not like any of the careers I remember from when I lived in District III.”

“Oh.” Nico took another sip of water. “Yeah, I mean, I always imagined they were as stupid as he is.”

“He’s not stupid.”

Nico snorted. “What kind of career teams up with us? It’s not a smart move.”

Hazel shrugged her shoulders and picked up another strawberry. “I’m not complaining about it. He’s a good ally.”

“It is a better team than I expected,” Nico mused. “We just need a strategist. Rachel and Will are smart but--they’re not battle smart.”

“What about Bianca?”

“Hazel, I can’t….” Nico ran a hand through his hair, momentarily pulling his bangs out of his face. For most people, Hazel would say they looked better when you could see their eyes. With Nico, it just made him look more like a corpse. She shivered at the thought, and its irony, that Nico was the only one between the two of them who hadn’t spent time as an actual corpse. He shook his head and his hair fell back into its usual place. “If we get too close to her, we’ll have to turn on each other.”

“But it’s fine if you and I turn against each other.” Hazel didn’t mean to sound hurt, but it slipped out anyway. She didn’t pretend to know what Nico’s history with his sister was, how they’d been separated, or why Nico ended up in the Underworld, cast out from Olympia. And he never asked her how she died or why she’d come back, so she respected his silence. But she still didn’t like that Nico talked about Bianca differently.

“Hazel, it’s not that…. I don’t want to fight my sister, and I don’t want you to fight her either. But, if we stick together, it’s just that I don’t expect to win. If anyone deserves immortality, it’s you. No one should have to die twice.”

Hazel sipped at her water, but found she’d drank it all without paying attention. She reached into the glass to pull out the strawberry. “And you want Bianca and I separate so we have a greater chance of succeeding without hurting each other.”

Nico nodded. “And then I won’t… have to choose between you.”

Hazel smiled. “Just promise me you won’t count yourself out of the running, okay? You never know. With a son of Poseidon on our side, we might have a better chance than we thought.”

“Speaking of alliances, were you eyeing that Hephaestus kid?”

If Hazel had any water left, she would’ve choked on it. “What? No. No, just--he’s in the top ten highest ranked Gladiators, so I was just--looking. I don’t. It’s nothing.” Her face felt hot and she cleared her throat. “I’m going back to bed.”

Nico laughed--a quiet, shy, and awkward, but earnest laugh. “Good night.”

Hazel fell into bed face-first. She didn’t fall asleep quickly or easily. It was a lot of tossing and turning and groaning into her pillow. Groaning, because, developing a crush on anyone in these games was the literal worst thing she could ever do. But there it was, growing in her stomach, and she could not seem to get rid of it.


	3. The Presentation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gladiators present their skills and their personalities.

As the week of training went on, Percy started to notice that his alliance wasn’t the only one emerging.

The three archers from Districts VII and VIII were one team. Bianca di Angelo, daughter of Hades; Michael Yew, son of Apollo; and Zoe Nightshade, the only non-demigod competing, besides Rachel. But that didn't make Zoe any less of a threat; Artemis only ever sanctioned warriors for the games, and Zoe had no trouble holding her own against demigods.

Thalia and Jason Grace seemed to have gone their separate ways. Whether something had happened between them, or they simply didn’t want to face each other on the battlefield, Percy didn’t know. It really wasn’t his business.

Thalia had teamed up with the girl from District VI--Annabeth Chase--and the boy from District XI. Percy didn’t know anything about Annabeth (other than she absolutely hated him) or the boy from District XI (other than he was a son of Hermes).

Percy had tried to make friends with Katie Gardiner and Nyssa, the daughter of Hephaestus who couldn’t light herself on fire. But they’d gotten in close with the son of Athena, and they wouldn’t have anything to do with Percy. So much for his plan of making friends with one of the Demeter kids.

Then there was Jason Grace, who had wound up in that odd pairing of the daughter of Aphrodite and son of Hephaestus. Their team was getting as much attention as Percy’s: two teams, comprised almost entirely of top-ten competitors. The only difference was that Percy had Rachel and Will to look out for, and he was pretty sure all the other teams were betting on Rachel and Will as weaknesses. He hoped he’d given them enough lessons on swordplay to prove themselves otherwise in the games.

Whatever they’d all learned from each other would have to be enough.

Percy sat beside Rachel as they waited to be called into the viewing stadium, where they would show off their talents for the gods. They’d be assigned scores, which were good indicators of who would win blessings in the games.

Thalia Grace was first, and Percy guessed she was probably going to shoot a lightning arrow and win easy points off Artemis and Zeus.

“What are you going to do, Rachel?” Percy whispered.

Rachel shrugged. “Probably some of the basic combat I learned. Maybe choose an easy monster to fight? I’m only expecting a few points. What about you?”

“Tidal wave. Maybe a hurricane.”

“Now you want to show off.”

“Now’s the time to show off,” he grinned.

Thalia came out, looking smug. Lightning arrows. Percy was sure of it.

Jason Grace stood up.

“Hey, good luck,” Percy said, without really thinking.

Jason gave him a curious look then said, “You too.” But he said it like he wasn’t sure why he was saying it, or what the words really meant.

Rachel elbowed him. “You’re an idiot.”

“Sorry, it just slipped out.”

“Everything’s strategy. You can’t just let things slip out. Which reminds me we need to work on what you’re going to say tonight.”

“I thought I would just wing it.” Percy shrugged. He didn’t care much about the show part of the games. He was here for his mother, and the rest of it didn’t matter.

“Gods help me,” Rachel sighed as Jason came out.

“You’ll do great,” Percy encouraged.

“I meant help me with you. You’re impossible.” She stood up and walked into the stadium quickly.

Percy did not get a chance to challenge her, but he grumbled to himself, “I’m not impossible. I’m just difficult.”

And then someone was at his side. Tall, blonde, with piercing blue eyes. Like Jason, but built thinner. And older.

“Hey, it’s Percy, right?”

“Uh--yeah. Who’re you?”

“My name’s Luke. Son of Hermes. I wanted to ask you something.”

Percy’s brow furrowed. “Seriously? I’m about to go in there--”

“I’ll make it short. We want you on our team.”

“We?”

“Thalia and Annabeth and I. You’re strong, even though you’ve been hiding it all week. We think we could mutually benefit with you on our team.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I have a team.”

“Your team is useless to you.”

Percy raised an eyebrow and tried really hard to restrain his anger. The last thing he needed was Rachel coming back to find him in a fight. “I think I like my team.”

“You have literally the two weakest competitors. I don’t know how the girl from your district ever earned Poseidon’s blessing, but you know she’s only holding you back. And Will Solace? He can’t do anything. And sure, Hazel and Nico are powerful, but do you really want to align yourself with Hades? It won’t win you any points from the gods.”

Percy knew all these things. It was probably why Percy picked the team that he did. He was, like his mother, never very good at doing the things he was supposed to do. “I think I’m okay where I’m at. Thanks.”

“Percy, I’m trying to do you a favor. You’re here to win, aren’t you?” Luke raised an eyebrow, waiting for Percy to answer, but Percy didn’t have anything to say to that. And Rachel came out, so Luke stood up. “Just think about. I’ll find you in the games for your answer.”

As he left, Percy felt a shiver run down his spine. He did not like that guy. Percy was a man of his word, and he’d promised Rachel he’d protect her. He wasn’t going back on that, and he didn't like anyone who suggested that he should break his word.

Percy got up to meet Rachel. “Are you alright?” he asked, but she walked past him without acknowledging him or wishing him luck. She looked dazed, and he wondered what in the world had happened in there.

“Percy Jackson,” a voice called.

Percy wanted to go after Rachel, but he walked into the stadium instead. He didn’t feel like summoning a tidal wave. He was confused and angry and he just wanted something to fight.

Luckily, choosing something to fight was one option for your display of strength.

The stadium was outdoors with access to the sky and water and earth. Any elements a demigod might need to display their skill sets and a rack of weapons to choose from. Percy grabbed a bronze sword.

He looked up to the balcony that stood over the stadium. The twelve gods sat in their thrones, curious what Percy would do. He’d been holding back all week, and now it was time to unleash everything he had.

“Well,” Percy said to the thrones above, “I feel like fighting a minotaur.”

\--- --- ---

Will Solace was so tired. A week of almost nothing but combat training, and then doing everything he could to prove to the gods he could handle himself in combat had worn him down. He wasn’t meant for fighting. Why had Apollo approved him? Weren’t there other demigods Apollo could pick? Then again, Apollo wasn’t exactly the brightest of the gods. Literally the brightest, maybe, but when it came to intelligence and forethought, he seemed to be lacking.

Currently, Will was lying on the couch, counting his heart rate to keep himself relaxed, and waiting for them to announce the results of the display of power. He didn’t imagine he did very well--fighting a wild boar was fine, but it wasn’t even an immortal monster boar, just a regular boar. And he didn’t use a bow and arrow, because Percy had been training them with swords. No points won from Dad there.

Michael Yew came out of his room, but instead of sitting on the couch with Will, he was busy checking his pockets.

“Are you going somewhere?” Will asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, it’s tradition for Apollo and Artemis’ gladiators to watch the results together. I mean, we all did archery for our display of talent, so we all kind of get together and chat about it and make fun of each other. Didn’t Orpheus tell you?”

Will had not spoken with their mentor very much. He was a demigod Victor, who’d won his games and won immortality, but he didn’t mentor them very much other than to sigh a lot. Michael was the only one who’d bothered to ask questions about the games. Michael was also the only one, between the two of them, who believed he had a chance to win.

Michael, unlike Will, did inherit archery. Will had the wonderful skill of medicine and it was being wasted in a game where the goal was to kill people. It was the exact opposite of what Will was good at.

“Orpheus didn’t mention it,” Will said, and tried not to sound irritated about it.

Maybe he should talk to Orpheus.

Orpheus was a Victor notorious for falling in love with one of Demeter’s competitors. When she’d fallen in battle, Orpheus had been so heartbroken, his song had actually opened the ground and produced an entrance into Tartarus. Will didn’t know if all games were on top of an entrance to Tartarus, but the important part was that Orpheus had gone to the Underworld in search of the soul of the girl he’d fallen for to bring her back. It would have been an interesting loophole in the one-victor rule--if it had worked.

Orpheus had ended up winning, but now he was just depressed with immortality and did little for the incoming Gladiators. Will frequently found himself wishing Asclepius had not been imprisoned for using his immortality to cure death. Asclepius was the one mentor that Will would have found useful.

Unless he wanted to ask Orpheus how to deal with having a crush on another competitor, but Orpheus didn’t seem to be handling that too well himself.

“So are you coming?” Michael asked as he pushed the button on the elevator doors.

Will thought about sitting with Zoe and Bianca and Michael, all talking about archery, and how well they’d done in their presentation. He thought about watching Bianca, and how like her brother she looked, and Will decided that going was a bad idea.

“I’ll be fine here.”

“See you tonight then.”

Right. Tonight. The interviews. Will might be able to garner more support through a conversation than he could through a combat display. But even still, what had he been thinking aligning himself with the children of Hades? He was a lost cause in this game. His best bet was really just to help the people he’d grown to care about.

Michael stepped into the elevator and the doors closed to take him down one floor. Will took a moment to enjoy the quiet emptiness of their floor--apart from Orpheus’s heavy sighing every few minutes. Then Orpheus started up a lovesick melody and Will realized he needed to get out of here.

He’d go up to Percy’s floor. If Michael could hang out with Artemis’s hunters, then there was no reason Will couldn’t go hang out with Percy and Rachel and watch the results of the combat trials with them. They understood his abilities weren’t in combat. They wouldn’t mock his low score or his lack of skill in archery. Percy would probably just congratulate him on whatever he got.

Mind made up, Will got into the elevator and went up to the second floor. 

The doors opened and he saw Rachel sitting next to Percy, leaning against him while he had his arm around her shoulders, and next to Percy and Rachel sat the rest of his team--Hazel and Nico.

Percy was the only one who looked excited to see him. “Hey! You’re here! We didn’t know if we should invite you up, because we heard it’s tradition for you to watch with District VIII. Glad you picked us over them. Come on and sit down. Hazel made popcorn,” and he laughed like it was some sort of joke.

As Will got closer, he saw the bowl of blackened popcorn and understood.

Hazel looked like she was trying to hide behind her curly hair as she said, “Nico and I couldn’t figure out how to work the television, so we came here. I brought popcorn so we wouldn’t feel like we were intruding, but we don’t have any satyrs on our floor, so we’ve been doing the cooking ourselves. Percy said popcorn’s not supposed to look like that.”

Will smiled graciously. “Not so much.” He sat down on the edge of the couch, next to Nico, just as the results were coming in.

The announcers were Calliope and Nike. They hosted the games every year, and always joked about who would die first. Will was not excited to be on that list.

“The votes are in for all our combatants,” Calliope said cheerfully.

Despite his discomfort with the games and everything associated with them, Will had always found her voice pretty and musical. He supposed all of the Muses sounded that way.

“Any initial bets?” Calliope asked her co-host, with a wide smile.

Nike only grinned excitedly. “I wouldn’t even know where to start betting! There’s so much potential I can’t wait to see what will happen.”

Calliope giggled. “It is definitely going to be an intense game. Alright, District One! Jason and Thalia Grace, brother and sister, both children of Zeus, and both very highly favored. Ladies first for the scoring.”

Thalia came out with a score of eleven.

“Not too hard to guess who that one vote against her is,” Calliope laughed. Hera never voted for children of Zeus, and Will didn’t really blame her for that. “And Jason Grace received a score of--” she paused passed her sheet of paper to Nike. “Is this right?”

Nike raised her eyebrows and smiled. “I believe so.”

“Ladies, gentlemen, demigods, nymphs, and dryads,” she said in shock and awe, “Jason Grace received a score of twelve.”

Percy whistled under his breath. “It is not easy to win Hera’s vote. Why on earth does she like him so much?”

Rachel hummed. “I think she thinks he’ll do what Thalia can’t.”

“What?”

But Rachel didn’t answer Percy, and Will pondered what she could have meant by that cryptic statement.

Rachel’s score was next. Calliope announced her as one of only two non-demigod participants. 

“Poseidon must have a lot of faith in his son to let someone like her play in these games,” Nike laughed.

Will shifted uncomfortably, but Rachel didn’t seem bothered by the comment.

“And Rachel Elizabeth Dare received a score of four. Well, she impressed somebody.”

“What did you do, Rachel?” Percy asked. “We talked about this. You should’ve at least gotten six or even seven.”

Now Rachel looked uncomfortable. “I don’t… actually remember. I walked in, and I was going to grab a sword, but then, suddenly it was over, and satyrs were escorting me out.”

Will tilted his head. “Oh. You must have a gift of prophecy. That’s why you’re so good with the Mist. I wonder if that’s why Poseidon chose you.” Will hadn’t thought about it before, but it made a lot more sense. He’d grown up around a variety of prophets and Oracles. He’d bet his life Apollo was one of the votes Rachel had gotten if she’d spouted a prophecy, and he’d bet it wasn’t a very nice prophecy, or the gods would’ve given her more praise for it.

“So is that why you always know what I’m going to do before I do it?” Percy asked.

“That’s because you’re predictably troublesome. That has nothing to do with my gift.”

“So you do have a gift.”

“Maybe. I don’t know. Hush, they’re about to announce your score.”

“Today is a day for surprises, isn’t it?” Calliope said. “Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, one of our favored Gladiators, received a score of six.”

Hazel stifled a laugh.

Percy stared at the screen in complete shock. “What? That can’t--Rachel, how badly did you piss them off? I killed a minotaur for them.”

“Should’ve summoned a hurricane,” Rachel said with a shrug. “Sorry, but I can’t remember the prophecy. I don’t even remember giving one. They just happen sometimes.”

“How long have you known you’ve had the gift of prophecy?” Percy raised an eyebrow at her.

Will knew enough about relationships to sense a fight coming. He quickly interrupted. “Maybe if we figure out who did vote for you, we could figure out something the prophecy might’ve said.”

“Definitely Poseidon,” Percy said. “He wouldn’t bet against me.”

“If you killed a Minotaur,” Nico said--his first words all afternoon--“then probably Ares or Artemis.”

“Aphrodite, because we’re in this together,” Rachel mused.

“So whatever you said made everyone hate me,” Percy sighed, “and the only people who would vote for me are those who value skill in battle over whatever you said, and Aphrodite, because she thinks our relationship is tragic and beautiful. Awesome.”

“And Apollo, if the prophecy implicated you,” Will said.

But it didn’t provide them any clues about the prophecy. Will wondered if that mysterious sixth vote would. He wondered if Rachel knew more than she was letting on. She seemed to, based on her comment about Hera. But Will also knew prophecies could be incredibly vague, and Rachel might just have good intuition without actually knowing what was coming.

Demeter’s children were next, and they scored a six and a seven. No surprises there. Ares’ daughter Clarisse got a ten. Again, no surprise.

“And Frank Zhang, who we’ve heard nothing but bad things about,” Calliope laughed, “received a score of twelve! Two twelves in one game, what a competition.”

“Didn’t he knock over an entire rack of swords yesterday and nearly cut himself open?” Will asked.

“He also tripped over his own feet and knocked Jason Grace into one of the electrical walls the third day of training,” Nico added. “He was almost disqualified, but because it was Jason Grace, he wasn’t actually hurt.”

Percy laughed. “I watched him throw a javelin the other day, but he got startled when Valdez combusted. Instead of the target, he nearly hit Clarisse, who was standing two feet to his left.”

“He’s very good at archery,” Hazel said suddenly. “I watched him practice after Thalia and Zoe’s competition ended.”

“Archery doesn’t get you a twelve,” Rachel said thoughtfully. “He’s been holding back as much as Jason and Percy.”

“His clumsiness is not an act, though, no way,” Percy laughed. “No one can fake being that terrible. I like him.”

“We could ask him to join us,” Hazel said quietly.

“No one is going to want to team up with us,” Nico said, just as quietly.

“We want to team up with you.” Percy reached over Hazel to push Nico playfully. “Don’t be so down about everything. We have a good team here. No one else stands a chance.”

Will noticed Percy seemed a little more passionate about his team than he’d been yesterday. Normally Percy was incredibly laid back, but it seemed like a switch had flipped and he was ready to go at full potential. He wondered if it was the score that had Percy so determined, the battle coming so quickly, or something else entirely.

Athena’s children were next. Annabeth scored an eight and Malcolm scored a seven. Michael Yew and Will Solace both received scores of six.

Percy threw a piece of burnt popcorn at him. “Good job, Solace. You beat Rachel and tied with me.”

“I was hoping for a seven.” But if Rachel had spouted a prophecy, then odds were that the gods hadn’t been too happy with him and Michael.

“Wha’d you do?”

“Fought a telkhine. Maybe they weren’t impressed by the fact that I used a sword. But I really suck at archery, so I guess I couldn’t have done worse.”

“Guess it’s too late to work on that.” Percy rubbed his jaw and stared at something past the television screen. Will wondered if the impact of the games was finally starting to hit Percy. They were going into a real battle, and they would really die, and even if the five of them managed to survive, they would have to kill each other.

Will thought for a moment about how that would go down, but then quickly regretted it. He would die first--that was obvious. Percy would protect Rachel, and Nico and Hazel would stand together against them. Will didn’t know if Percy or Nico or Hazel would win that fight. Nico and Hazel might have better odds, because Percy would have to defend Rachel, but Will also knew that Percy had been holding back for their entire time they’d been training. There was no way to know what Percy was capable of, and there was no way to know what Nico and Hazel were capable of.

Will felt a little glad he probably wouldn’t live long enough to see his new friends turn on each other.

There was nothing unexpected in the scores that followed. Eights for the huntresses of Artemis--even Bianca, as if the gods didn’t mind that she was a daughter of Hades. Probably in her best interest that Hades hadn’t blessed her yet. Whenever he did, though, the rest of the competitors would surely turn on her.

Piper McLean scored a nine and Michael Kahale an eight. Leo Valdez received a ten and Nyssa got a five. Will wondered how long it had been since Hephaestus had a Gladiator with a chance at victory. Hermes’ son and daughter each received nines, and Dionysius’s children got a six and a five.

Lastly, Nico and Hazel had to receive their scores.

“It is pretty unfair that you guys have to go last,” Percy said. “You’re technically District Three, so you should be right next to us.”

“That really doesn’t matter,” Nico said. “The gods haven’t been about fairness in a long time.”

Will scooted an inch away from Nico. It was against the rules for the gods to harm Gladiators once they’d been chosen, but Will did not want to risk it. The gods really didn’t have a penchant for fairness, but he just couldn’t imagine having the nerve to say it out loud.

Hazel received a score of eight, and she blushed with pride. And probably embarrassment, because Percy repeated that she was amazing at least three times.

“You beat everyone’s score,” Percy said. “That’s pretty amazing.”

“We haven’t seen Nico’s yet,” she said.

“I’m sure it’s pretty low,” Nico said, but he looked incredibly smug about it.

“Our final competitor,” Nike said, “is Nico di Angelo. He’s a son of Hades and rumor has it he’s very powerful.”

“I heard,” Calliope said with another musical laugh, “his hair came in second place in our viewer-vote yesterday. Only Jason Grace beat it.”

“Nice job,” Percy said with a grin. “If this were a fashion contest, apparently you’d be close to winning.”

“Shut up, Jackson,” Nico muttered, and Will could feel the embarrassment coming off Nico in waves. “Scores on appearance are irrelevant.”

“Well at least he has nice hair to make up for this score,” Calliope sighed and handed the card to Nike.

“A score of zero!” Nike laughed. “I really wish we could play the footage from that.”

Even Percy couldn’t find words of praise. “Nico…. What did you do?”

“Summoned the skeleton of Kronos.”

Will wanted to smack Nico. He had never come across someone so frustrated with the gods before, so unwilling to play their games. He respected Nico’s defiance, but it was reckless to be so… so reckless about it.

Percy, however, seemed impressed. “Alright. That is one way to do it. I see why they don’t like you. Wait, you can summon skeletons?”

“You can summon hurricanes.”

“Fair,” Percy nodded. “Well, I guess we won’t expect any blessings for you,” and he laughed, like it was some sort of joke.

Will quickly stood. “I really hope you do better tonight.”

“What does it even matter?” Nico shrugged.

“It matters because a blessing could save your life.” Will tried very hard to keep his voice cool, but he wasn’t sure he was succeeding. He felt so frustrated with all of them.

“Save it for what?” Nico asked with a raised eyebrow. “Save it until I’m the second to last Gladiator? As if that’s somehow better than being fourth from last? Or tenth from last? Dead is dead either way.”

“You don’t have to die.” But even as he said it, he knew it didn’t mean anything. Everyone in this room, except maybe one of them, would be dead by the end of next week. If Nico lived, then he was condemning everyone else.

Before it could turn into a real argument, Rachel quickly got to her feet. “I think we should all get ready for tonight. Hazel, why don’t you let me know if you need any help, alright?”

Hazel smiled gratefully, and quickly pulled Nico into the elevator. Will had no choice but to join them. It seemed an interminable ride in absolute silence before the doors finally opened to Will’s floor. He went straight to his room to change, and tried unsuccessfully to block out the sound of Orpheus’ lovesick sighing.

\--- --- ---

Percy felt uncomfortable in the blue blazer Eurybia had dressed him in, but Rachel told him it looked dashing.

“It makes the green in your eyes pop,” she said, and kissed his cheek.

Percy looked around at the others nervously. Fighting a minotaur, no problem. Talking in front of thousands of people? Problem.

At least he was fourth on the list. Get it over with.

Thalia Grace got to be first. Percy watched the screen as she glided onto the stage in a sky-blue dress, short in the front and long in the back, where the blue faded to a white like clouds. She wore a silver coronet in her short black hair, reminiscent of the blessing she’d received from Artemis on her first day of training.

Calliope, the host, motioned for her to take a seat. “Welcome, Thalia, daughter of Zeus. Are you excited about tomorrow? Nervous at all?”

“Definitely excited,” she said, and flashed a grin at her audience. “I honestly think it’s going to be a good time.”

“Are you nervous at all about fighting your brother?”

Thalia’s smile flickered. Percy wondered if the audience even noticed.

“Jason and I didn’t grow up together, and weren’t very close. I’m a little disappointed he chose to volunteer the year I turned sixteen, but I think we will each hold our own on the battlefield. We’ve agreed to stay apart until the very end, so you can look forward to a showdown between the two children of Zeus for your final battle.”

Percy thought that a rather callous thing to say, but the audience loved it. They cheered loudly for Thalia, and loudly for Jason when he walked onto the stage. Jason smiled at them and waved, and Percy thought these two careers had been trained for a lot more than combat. They’d been trained to win popularity. He wished he’d done that.

“Well, Jason, I expect you’re not nervous about fighting your sister then,” Calliope laughed.

“Not at all,” he smiled pleasantly. But Percy could see the way his shoulders stiffened. Percy recognized it as a battle-ready defense mechanism.

“Why did you choose to volunteer this year? It was meant to be your sister’s big year.”

“It was a dream, I had, actually,” Jason said. “A dream that this was the year I would win and that my victory would save Olympia.”

“Incredible!” Calliope said. “And you got twelve gods to vote for you, so perhaps there is some hope in that.”

“Yes--but, honestly, I only want to bring pride to my father and my district. If what I do saves Olympia, then all the better.”

“Handsome, powerful, and humble.” Calliope winked at her audience. “Best of luck to you, Jason Grace,” and she shook his hand and he left the stage.

Rachel went next, and Percy gave her a quick kiss on the cheek for good luck.

“Rachel Elizabeth Dare,” Calliope greeted her and motioned for her to take a seat. “Wonderful to finally meet you. I hear you’re quite the Muse yourself.”

“I think Percy Jackson has other things to be his Muse,” Rachel laughed lightly. “I’m only here to keep him safe.”

“You are quite the devoted girlfriend! Does it worry you that you’re one of only two non-demigods competing this year? And that the only other non-demigod is an incredibly skilled huntress?”

“I’m not concerned at all,” Rachel said with an easy smile. “I’m here for one thing only, and that is to protect Percy. Percy and I want the same thing, and that’s what’s going to make us strong.”

The audience clapped, then ooed as Rachel’s deep blue dress shimmered with an iridescent pink. She stood, and rose petals seemed to fall from her curls.

“Oh my,” Calliope breathed. “A blessing from Aphrodite. Wonderful.” At Calliope’s insistence, Rachel twirled for the audience, then she smiled, shook Calliope’s hand, and left the stage, with the crowd cheering behind her.

Percy swallowed down as many nerves as he could and stepped up onto the stage.

Cheers went up as he took the seat across from Calliope. She smiled pleasantly at him, and that helped the butterflies settle down. It also helped that he couldn’t actually see the audience because of how bright the lights were.

“Well, Percy Jackson, what a wonderful girlfriend you have.”

“Thank you,” he said, and added honestly, “I don’t really know what she sees in me.”

“Are you kidding?” Calliope laughed. “I imagine there are at least ten girls in the audience right now who would date you.”

The chorus of screams from the audience confirmed Calliope’s point. It didn’t actually make Percy feel any better.

“You are one of the youngest volunteers this year,” Calliope added. “Most wait until sixteen. Why volunteer so early, and when you knew Rachel would be competing?”

Percy didn’t think he should explain that Rachel volunteered because he decided to volunteer, So he gave the more honest answer. “Because my mother is very sick. This is the last chance I have to compete for her.”

“Oh, darling, if you thought that girls didn’t love you before, you just broke about ten dozen more hearts. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s hear it for Percy Jackson.” Calliope smiled as the crowd cheered and Percy felt his cheeks burn as he stepped off the stage.

Rachel met him at the bottom of the stairs and instantly led him to a couch. She was literally glowing with the blessing of Aphrodite.

“You did wonderfully,” she said, and kissed his cheek.

He laughed, nerves still flitting about in his stomach. “Thanks. You were awesome. Look at you. Won a blessing and everything.”

Rachel laughed. “The only blessing I can win. I’m surprised she didn’t give you one too. Or Hera, even, with the part about your mother.”

“Hera is harder to please. I thought we already established she likes Jason and Frank best, anyway.”

“Either way, you won a lot of popularity points tonight. And the gods love popularity points.”

Percy smiled and kissed her.

After Percy and Rachel’s stunt, Calliope seemed pretty partial to the love questions. She asked each Demeter child if they had loves back home, which neither of them did, and she even asked Clarisse La Rue about a boyfriend, to which Clarisse said, “I’ll have my pick when I get home, and I’ve already chosen.” Frank Zhang fumbled for an answer, unsurprisingly. He stumbled over his words and his feet as he left the stage, red as a tomato.

Athena’s daughter, Annabeth, seemed flustered by the question, but she handled it with grace and tactfully steered the conversation towards strategies. She left with a faint glow to her cheeks that was either simply from succeeding or from a blessing. Percy honestly wasn’t sure which.

“Good job out there,” he told her when she stepped into the room the rest of them were waiting in.

Her camera smile was gone, and she flashed him a cold, steely glare, as sharp as the point of a knife. “Some of us have more relevant things to talk about than relationships, and I don’t appreciate the theme you put on tonight.”

“Blame Calliope, not me,” Percy said. “Or even Aphrodite. We’re as much victims as you are, you know.” He said it with a smile, but Annabeth seemed to take his words seriously. She considered them thoughtfully before turning on her heel and taking an unoccupied corner.

“Percy, stop trying to be friendly,” Rachel sighed.

“But I am friendly.”

“You’re only making people dislike you, because they think you have something up your sleeve.”

“But I don’t have something up my sleeve.”

“In this game, everyone is supposed to have something up their sleeve. So, at least pretend like you do, okay?” Rachel said. Percy noticed she was beginning to look frustrated. It didn’t make her any less beautiful under the blessing of Aphrodite.

After Michael Yew finished their interviews, Will Solace was next. He smiled charmingly and shook Calliope’s hand. It was nice to see him confident, in his element, especially after a week of him being anxious about the combat trials.

“Everyone’s getting asked,” Calliope said pleasantly, “what’s your love life look like? I imagine with blonde curls like that, surely there’s a girl back home holding onto your picture right now.”

Will laughed and said confidently, “I actually don’t have a girlfriend. I’m not really into girls, to be quite honest.”

Percy, somehow, did not find this surprising. He guessed by the knowing smile on Rachel’s face that she didn’t find it surprising either, and suddenly, he understood Will’s outburst this afternoon a little bit better. 

“Oh,” Calliope said with a pleasant smile. “I suppose you do take after your father, then. Though I hear you aren’t very good with a bow.”

Will laughed, though Percy knew Will was uncomfortable with the comment. “My father has many gifts. I inherited his gift of medicine. I had hoped to one day use it to become a doctor, but I’m not sure what will happen now.”

“Don’t give up hope just yet,” Calliope said, and leaned over to pat his knee. “You’ve got as good a chance as anyone.”

Will smiled, but it was a sad smile. Percy felt like this sadness was Will’s act of defiance, a refusal to take part in the celebrations the games demanded. It was the exact opposite of Nico’s defiance, but still rebellious in its own way. It refused to treat the games as anything other than what they were--a slaughter, and a loss of innocence.

As Will came backstage and took a seat beside Rachel, Percy remembered his mother’s words: that she’d lived her life, and she only wanted him to live his. Percy thought his heart might tear in two for understanding her too late. He wanted to say something to Will, but he didn’t know what. And anyway, Will didn’t look much like he wanted to talk.

Rachel must have noticed something on his face because she wrapped her hand in his.

“Percy, I want you to know--” she started, then stopped. “Just, remember what you came here for. And it’ll work out.”

“How do you do that?” he asked.

“Do what?”

“Know what I’m thinking?”

She laughed and said, “You’re very easy to read.”

“Is it a gift of Apollo thing? You can tell me. It’s not like they’ll move you to District Seven now.”

Rachel sighed. “Yes, I have a gift of prophecy, and yes I tried to keep it secret because I didn’t want to leave District Two. Happy?”

“You could never make me unhappy,” Percy laughed, but Rachel didn’t, and he wondered what it was she saw in their future. He supposed happiness for the two of them wasn’t an option anymore. He squeezed her hand tightly.

When Bianca di Angelo was interviewed, Calliope did not mention her father, or the lack of patronage from her father. Percy thought that was probably in Bianca’s best interest. Zoe was praised for her high score, and Calliope did not once mention that Zoe was not a demigod. It made Percy a little irritated that Zoe got to be treated the same as the rest of them, but Rachel had to get singled out.

Neither huntress was asked about their love life, and Percy thought it was probably smart to avoid the wrath of Artemis.

Nyssa showed off a slight of hand magic trick as a way to avoid the boyfriend question, and Leo pined about having no less than seven girlfriends, all eagerly awaiting his victorious return home. When Calliope asked him what chance a scrawny boy from District IX had, Leo proceeded to light himself on fire.

After they doused the stage in some white foam and cleaned up a bit, Piper McLean was interviewed. She had only a few blushes in answer to the love questions, and changed the topic as quickly as Annabeth had. Percy wondered if she was trying to avoid points from her mother. But by the time she left the stage, the crowd was just as excited for her as they had been for Rachel. He remembered Rachel saying something about Piper having magic like Hazel.

Michael Kahale was next, then Hermes’ children. The girl said she spent too much time stealing from the rich Peacekeepers in her district to bother with men, “or women,” she added with a small smile. Calliope laughed and asked her to talk about her most exciting and daring theft.

Luke Castellan was next, and Percy frowned. “Rachel, what do you know about that guy?”

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. “Not a lot. He’s a son of Hermes and a volunteer. It’s a little unusual for kids from District Eleven to volunteer, but other than that, he seems fine.”

“He asked me to leave my alliance and join his.”

“That seems sensible. Everyone would want you on their team, and you’ve chosen a pretty terrible team.”

“I like my team.”

“You judge with your heart, which is not how anyone wins this game. I know you don’t want to play the game the way everyone else is, but opting out isn’t an option. Opting out gets you killed.”

“Are you telling me I should abandon you?”

“It would be the smart thing to do, but it would not be a very Percy thing to do.”

Percy liked that answer, because he knew Rachel wasn’t calling him stupid. They’d already had that fight a long time ago. She was only telling him that she trusted him and knew it was not in his nature to abandon her, no matter how smart doing so would be. He really wanted to kiss her, and it had nothing to do with the blessing of Aphrodite.

“Girls aside,” Calliope said with a gentle laugh, “you volunteered this year, which is very unusual for a son of Hermes. What prompted you to make that decision?”

Luke smiled a charming smile that made Percy like him a little bit, but then made Percy irritated for liking him. “Honestly, I just came because I wanted to compete. The games are about glory and honor and it’s my last year to try, so I thought if I was going to do this, it would have to be now. I just want to be recognized.”

“A true Gladiator,” Calliope smiled, and the crowd cheered as Luke was led off stage.

Luke stepped back behind the stage where the rest of the gladiators were waiting as Calliope started to interview Dionysus’s daughter.

Thalia playfully punched Luke’s shoulder and Percy heard her say, “Wow, you’re going for Zeus or Ares approval? Good luck.”

And he heard Luke laugh quietly and say, “It wasn’t like I was going to get my dad’s.”

This startled something in Percy, but he didn’t know how to describe what he felt.

And then Luke touched Annabeth’s shoulder encouragingly, and went to talk to Percy. Whatever the feeling was, it left him, and Percy straightened his shoulders and tightened his hand around Rachel’s.

“Hey, Jackson, I just wanted to let you know, I’m sorry about asking you to leave your alliance. I didn’t realize you and your partner were… partners.” He smiled, a pleasant charming smile like he had for the crowd a few moments ago. “No hard feelings, okay? I just wanted to wish you both the best of luck.” And he held out his hand.

Percy took it reluctantly. He seemed to feel a bit more forgiving towards Luke in this moment and he wasn’t sure he liked that feeling.

“The gods really know how to put on a show, don’t they?” Luke said. “I’ll see you both in the arena.”

As Luke left them, Percy said quietly to Rachel, “Is he like me or like Annabeth?”

“Annabeth,” she whispered back. “Definitely Annabeth. I don’t think he’s said one word of truth since he’s been here.”

“Then what does he want?”

“Honestly, Percy, I’m afraid to find out.”

Percy trusted Rachel’s instincts above everything, especially now that he knew she had a gift of Apollo. However, her concerns about Luke were hard to mesh with the guy who looked so comfortable next to Annabeth and Thalia, like they’d been best friends for years. Percy’s gut told him that Luke really did want to protect them, that Luke really did feel bad for him and Rachel. But what then, did Rachel see in Luke’s future?

“It’s Hazel’s turn,” Rachel said and pinched his arm.

Percy looked up at the screen just in time to see Rachel sit down across from Calliope.

“I just have to say I absolutely love your dress,” Calliope said.

It was a pretty intricate piece of fashion, even to Percy who didn’t know anything about fashion. Diamonds and rubies were sewn into the edges of a black fabric that glistened under the lights like water whenever Hazel moved.

“Thank you,” Hazel said. Her smile was as pleasant as Luke and Jason’s and a little more charming. Percy wondered if that was the Mist.

“Now, Hazel Levesque, you’re the first competitor for Hades in a long time. Do you feel like there’s more pressure on you to win than say, the children of Zeus or Poseidon?”

“I think all of us want to win equally,” Hazel said. “We all have things we’re fighting for, whether it’s ourselves, or loved ones, or our parents, godly or mortal.”

“And which are you fighting for?”

Now that Percy had spent a week training with Hazel, he didn’t have too hard a time telling when Hazel was embarrassed. She would bite the inside of her cheek and it pinched it in just a way that was barely noticeable, and if you did notice, you might think it was pensive.

“I think I’m fighting for all of them, in some way.”

“Two very safe answers,” Calliope laughed. “Wonderful! Well, I can’t wish you luck and anger my father, but I can say I like you,” and she winked at Hazel.

Hazel smiled pleasantly and left the stage to polite applause.

“I guess that’s the best we can hope for,” Rachel murmured. 

Will adjusted in the seat next to Rachel as Nico walked onto the stage. Hazel took the seat next to Percy.

“Good job,” Percy told her.

“Nico’s the one we should be worried about,” Hazel said and bit down her lip.

Percy could not argue that, not as Nico slouched into the seat and folded his arms over his chest. Nico did not want to be there, and he had no problem expressing that. Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Will bury his face in his hands.

“Nico di Angelo,” Calliope said pleasantly, as if she was not at all put off by Nico’s posture. “You are Bianca di Angelo’s brother, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

“So you have two sisters to fight in the games. Are you nervous about that at all?”

“Nope.”

Now Calliope started to look uncomfortable. “Your sister had some interesting things to say about why she’s fighting. What are you fighting for?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Nope.”

Percy was pretty sure he heard Will swear, and Percy didn’t blame him. Was Nico’s grand plan to just piss all the gods off and get smited before he could even compete? What was he hoping to accomplish?

Calliope readjusted the way she was sitting and said, “Not even for your sisters? For a girlfriend back home?”

Now something real flickered across Nico’s face, but he only said, “Most everyone ‘back home’ is dead.”

Calliope laughed, “I don’t mean in the Underworld, I mean above it. District III was a well-established trading center with plenty of precious metal mines, back when it was part of Olympia. Surely--”

“That was before Zeus destroyed it during the war.”

There was nothing but pure hatred in Nico’s voice. Will slouched down in his chair and groaned. Percy felt like doing the same.

Calliope cleared her throat and quickly stood. “Everyone, our last Gladiator, Nico di Angelo.”

There was no applause as Nico left the stage.

All of the Gladiators stared at Nico in shock as he stepped into the room. Only Will moved. He walked right up to Nico and hit his shoulder.

“What in Hades’ name was that? Are you kidding me, di Angelo? We talked--”

Hazel quickly pushed Will away from Nico before someone got disqualified. “Let me deal with this,” she said quietly, and led Nico away.

Percy had a few things to say to Nico as well, but he got the strange feeling that Nico was avoiding eye contact with him. So instead, he took Rachel’s hand and said, “I suppose now’s the time we go get a good night’s rest before tomorrow.”

They went back to their floor and he kissed her goodnight.


	4. The Cornucopia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Games begin.

Percy was escorted down a long, well-lit hallway. He wished he’d gotten a chance to eat breakfast with Rachel, or even just to say good morning to her--something good to remember of their last morning together. But he’d been awoken early and escorted to the arena. He didn’t know if she was behind him or ahead of him.

At the end of the long hallway was a small platform. Percy guessed it led up into the arena. He was about to step on it when he heard a gentle voice from behind him say, “Percy Jackson.”

He turned and saw a young girl behind him. She wasn’t a competitor, he was sure. He didn’t recognize her at all except… Rachel had taught him a little about seeing through the mist and he was certain this woman was a goddess.

He bowed respectfully.

“You recognize me,” she said in surprise.

“I’m afraid I don’t know your name,” he said. He hoped he hadn’t just ruined his chance at whatever blessing he’d been about to receive.

But she didn’t seem angry. She even smiled. “I don’t expect you to. I am the goddess Hestia.”

Percy tried to remember her from his schooling. “Goddess of… hearth. And home. You were replaced by Dionysus when the Hunger Games started.”

She nodded and smiled. “There is no room for hearth and home in these revelries. This is why I have come to you, Percy Jackson.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You are the only Gladiator truly competing for family. You are competing for your home, not for the revelry of power. I wish to give you my blessing, and in exchange, I only ask that you end the games.”

“You mean… win?”

“I mean stop them. Forever. Restore me to Olympus, correct the imbalance that has been brought to this world, and end the Gladiator Games.”

Percy had no idea how to even start doing that. Did it mean not competing? Did it mean refusing to kill anyone? That sounded only like it would get him killed. He didn’t understand.

“I trust you will find the answer,” she said, and placed a hand on his forehead.

Percy felt warm and something fluttered inside his chest. Another feeling he didn’t have words for.

As Hestia released him, he stepped back onto the platform and rose to the ground floor of the arena.

The light in the arena was bright and Percy had to blink a few times to adjust his eyes. He heard the twelve-second countdown begin before he even realized where he was. When he managed to take in the environment, he felt his heart sink to his stomach. The only thing that seemed to support it and keep it from dropping right out of him was Hestia’s blessing.

The battlefield was a desert wasteland. The Cornucopia sat in the center, the sun was rising over cliffs in the east, and to the south, something shimmered on the horizon, like light reflecting off metal, and Percy didn’t think he was so dehydrated just yet for it to be a mirage.

The countdown was at seven.

Percy locked eyes with Rachel.

Six.

Rachel slightly jerked her thumb towards the mountains in the east.

Five.

Percy motioned to a canteen of water in the Cornucopia.

Four.

Rachel shook her head.

Three.

Percy looked across the arena to Will Solace.

Two.

Percy jerked his head towards the cliffs.

One.

Percy grabbed Rachel’s hand and ran east. He looked around wildly for Hazel and Nico, but he couldn’t find them in the chaos of the battle for goods at the Cornucopia. They were both talented with the Mist and camouflage, so Percy hoped they managed to escape alright.

“There should be a water source in those cliffs,” Rachel said between gasps for air as she ran.

Percy could hear the sounds of the slaughter at the Cornucopia behind them. He grabbed Will’s arm with his other hand, trying to speed them up.

“But where are we going to get weapons?” Percy asked. He glanced back over his shoulder in time to see Clarisse La Rue cut Katie Gardner’s throat open. Clarisse was already glowing red with the blessing of Ares.

“You’ve got powers, right?” Will gasped. His hand was already on his side. Percy had not expected Rachel and Will to have such low endurance.

“We’re in a desert!” Percy felt completely useless. It was all he could do to keep Rachel and Will with him. The feeling in his chest fluttered briefly and spurred him forward.

“There will be water at the cliff,” Rachel repeated. “We’ll be safe there.”

Percy stumbled over a loose stone and nearly twisted his ankle. He desperately hoped she was right.

\--- --- ---

Annabeth kicked at a rock. It bounced harmlessly off a cactus. “We’ve been walking for hours. There’s nothing.” She knew her anger was unnecessary, and that Thalia and Luke were as irritated as her.

“I know where I’m going,” Luke snapped back.

“How?” Thalia asked.

“Just trust me,” was his only explanation.

But Annabeth didn’t see how Luke knew anything about the arena, or how he had any sense of direction.

The arena this year was a desert wasteland. She shouldn’t be surprised. It was a collection of powerful demigods, so they would get the hardest environment to survive in. But it meant no water, no food, and no shelter. She was angry, tired, and hungry.

She took a sip of the water bottle, one of the few useful things tucked into the backpack she’d grabbed off the edge of the Cornucopia. She also had rope, which would be great if they ran into some cliffs, but they were going south and the cliffs were east. There was a canvas to construct a shelter out of, but she didn’t have any kind of support for it.

Annabeth’s bottle was empty now. “Thalia, can I borrow your spear?” The one weapon Thalia had managed to grab from the Cornucopia. There had been plenty of bows and arrows, but they were too close to the center to risk it.

Thalia handed her the spear without question. Annabeth used it to stab a cactus. She drained the fluid out of the cactus and passed the now-full bottle to Thalia.

Thalia sipped the water gratefully. “Luke, we need food.”

“And shelter,” Annabeth added.

Luke looked back towards the Cornucopia, where they had come from, then to the horizon. Whatever metallic image they were chasing was getting closer, but Annabeth couldn’t make it out. “We can’t go back.” Luke said. “It isn’t worth the fight for the Cornucopia. See those cliffs east of here? It’s about a six hour’s walk. If there is food, it’s that way. And it’ll be a good place to hide.”

Annabeth sighed. “Yes, but anyone who isn’t already at the Cornucopia will be headed there for shelter. Which means water is west. That’s how the games work.”

Thalia shielded her eyes against the sun. “Annabeth is probably right. We brought her on for her brains, Luke, we ought to use them.”

Luke rubbed his hand over his forehead and Annabeth passed him the water bottle. “Okay, I’ll keep heading south for a few hours, see what I can find. Here, we’re out of sight of the Cornucopia, and we can probably dig an underground shelter just low enough to be out of sight of the cliffs. Why don’t you take care of the shelter? It’ll be easier to defend if we’re hidden. Maybe a couple pitfalls while you’re at it. Just--no lightning strikes to give away our position.”

Thalia laughed. “Of course not. Might be able to throw some pretty far, though, to make people think we’re closer to the cliffs.”

“Good plan,” Annabeth said. “We’ll make camp. And Luke--be careful.”

He grinned at them and saluted.

When Luke was a small silhouette against the sun, Thalia asked, “Do you trust him?”

“I do,” Annabeth answered quickly. “And, anyway, we don’t have a lot of options. I can dig a shelter if you want to hunt. We might be able to find a hare or something out here.”

“I won’t go too far,” Thalia said. “Shout if you need me.”

Annabeth nodded and took off her backpack. She pulled out a pair of gloves. Originally, she’d thought them to be utterly useless in a desert wasteland. Now, she was glad she had them to protect her hands as she began to dig a small shelter out of the sand.

\--- --- ---

Percy was not doing okay. At all. He needed water and he needed it bad.

“Should’ve fought for the Cornucopia,” he complained. It was taking all his willpower not to lean against Rachel as they walked. “Bet there’s plenty of water.”

“Copious amounts,” Will agreed quietly.

Percy laughed a little, and that gave him enough strength to keep going.

“Good luck surviving that blood bath,” Rachel sighed. “I just hope Nico and Hazel made it out alright.”

“We’ll know when they do the cannons tonight,” Percy said.

It was another hour before they finally arrived at the base of the scraggly rocks that reached towards the sky. Percy sagged underneath it, wishing they could provide shade, but they provided no protection from the sun setting on the horizon in the west.

“What now?” Percy asked. His mouth was dry and his body felt like it was made of paper. He needed a good soak in a cold bath.

“Percy,” Rachel asked, “do you feel any water nearby?”

Percy closed his eyes and tried very hard to feel for water in the cliffs, any kind of underground spring. Something tugged nearby, but it was very faint. “If there is water,” he finally said, “it’s going to come out up top. We need to climb, and we don’t have any rope.” And his limbs felt like they would fall off if he tried to pull himself up a cliff. He couldn’t imagine that Will and Rachel had any more strength than he did.

He heard Rachel gasp suddenly, and Percy leapt to his feet. His fist made contact with the first person he saw that wasn’t Rachel or Will--it was Nico di Angelo.

Nico sank to one knee and held his bloody nose. “Styx, Jackson, it’s me!”

“Sorry,” Percy said quickly. “I swear I didn’t mean--Where did you come from?”

Nico was dressed in all black, which Percy thought must be ridiculously warm out here in the desert. He held his nose as he got to his feet and glared at Percy. “Being a son of Hades allows me to pass through shadows.”

“That is super convenient. Can you take us to water?”

“Funny,” Nico said, dabbing his nose with his sleeve, “that’s exactly why I came here.” He squinted at the horizon. “It’s not quite dark enough for me to take anyone with me. Wait a moment until the sun sets completely.”

While they waited for the orange sky to fade into a purple twilight, Nico told them how he’d taken Hazel from the Cornucopia. They’d disappeared through the shadows on one side of the Cornucopia and appeared at the base of the cliff.

“Hazel’s good at finding things underground,” Nico said. “We found a spring and we’ve been waiting for you guys to get here since.”

“You could’ve come and got us from the Cornucopia,” Percy complained. “Instead of making us walk all this way.”

“Yes, because there are so many shadows to pass through in the flat open desert at the peak of day.” Nico rolled his eyes. “Not to mention how much energy it costs to do it. Just taking you guys to the place Hazel and I set up camp will put me out for the night. So I hope you realize just how much trust we’re putting in you.”

“We appreciate it,” Rachel said. “Honestly. Percy’s just a bit cranky. He’s bad enough when he’s hungry, and he’s the worst when he’s dehydrated.”

Percy did not feel like his irritation stemmed from dehydration. He thought he was right to be frustrated by the difficult arena, by the fact that they had no food, and by the fact that they were completely vulnerable sitting here at the base of the cliff. Anyone could find them.

Nico put his hand on the wall of the cliff. Percy startled when his hand seemed to pass right through it.

“It should be dark enough now.”

Lightning flashed south of them and lit up the entire arena. Nico quickly drew his hand away from the cliffs.

“How close was that?” Percy asked over the successive thunder.

“Too close,” Rachel said. “Hurry. I don’t want to run into Jason or Thalia.”

“I can only take one at a time,” Nico said.

“Percy first,” Will said. “Then Rachel, then me. If anything happens out here, we’re the most expendable members of your team.”

“You’re not expendable,” Percy snapped. “I’m going last because I can defend whoever is here.”

“With what?” Rachel laughed. “Jason and Thalia can fry you to a crisp so fast, and you have nothing to defend yourself with. No, Will is right. You first.”

Percy only spluttered as Nico grabbed his arm. Percy had the odd feeling Nico enjoyed holding him about as much as Nico enjoyed holding garbage. Then Nico said, very sternly, “Close your mouth.” Before Percy really realized it, they were melting into the cliff face.

Percy immediately decided he was never shadow-traveling again. His body seemed to move faster than his organs, and it was cold and disgusting, and if he had eaten anything at all today, he would have been sick all over Nico’s shoes the minute they stepped out of the darkness. Instead, he only retched acidic spit into a strangely shaped plant.

And then Percy realized it was a plant, and it was not a desert plant, and that meant there had to be water nearby. He looked up and saw they were in a sort of open-air cave, like a hole within the cliffs. A spring of water trickled down from somewhere within the cliffs. It made a small pool in this hollow space, and in the shade of the cliffs above, moss and other plants grew. It was better than any desert oasis Percy had expected.

Hazel already had fish roasting on a fire. Percy thought about telling her a fire was a bad idea, but realized there was no way anyone could see it, tucked away in these cliffs. Even if they could see the smoke rising above the cliffs, they’d have to climb the cliffs to get here. It was the perfect defensible position. He couldn’t imagine how Hazel and Nico found it so quickly.

Nico returned with Rachel then Will. Percy knew he’d only been separated from Rachel for a few minutes but he felt so relieved to see her safe.

Hazel waved at them and said, “I’ve got food and water.”

“Drink slowly,” Percy said. “You’ll get sick if you try to drink too fast.” But Percy didn’t drink at all, even as Hazel handed them a bottle. He simply waded into the pool. It wasn’t very large, but it was enough to make him feel so much better. He felt ready to fight five minotaurs just by being close to water again.

“Honestly,” Percy said, “I don’t know what we would have done without you guys.”

“Starved in the desert, I guess,” Hazel said. “I didn’t think my ability to feel tunnels underground would come in handy.

“Are there tunnels that lead here?” Will asked.

Hazel nodded. “They’re on the far south side of the cliff, and they come out over there,” she pointed to a small hole, just big enough for Clarisse La Rue and all her muscles to fit through, near the trickle of water. “But it’s still the most defensible location in the desert.”

“Better than the Cornucopia,” Rachel agreed. “If only we had weapons.”

“Nico and I have swords,” Hazel said. “We didn’t think to get any for you as well.”

Percy climbed out of the pool and took a sip of water. “Oh, so I guess I should have tried to grab something.” Percy shot a bitter glare at Rachel.

Rachel only rolled her eyes. “Do you believe I have the gift of foresight or not? Clarisse La Rue would have killed you before you could blink. You’re in a desert. You’re out of your element, and you need to be more careful.”

“I am being careful,” Percy shot back. “Careful is making sure we’re prepared to defend ourselves and prepared not to starve to death.”

“Careful is staying alive, and that means we have to trust Hazel and Nico.”

Nico, nearly asleep at the edge of the fire, startled at the mention of his name, but then dozed right back off. Hazel helped him lay down a little further from the fire.

“He’ll be out most of the night,” Hazel said. “We can set up a watch rotation for the cave entrance and--”

She was cut off by the sound of eight cannons. The noise rocked the cliffs and pieces of earth crumbled off their edges. Nico didn’t even flinch.

“Eight deaths already,” Will whispered.

They listened as the tribute to the fallen played in the sky above. Percy felt his anger build as each face flashed before them over the narrow view of stars they had. Both the boy and girl from District IV were out. Malcolm, son of Athena, Nyssa from District IX, Michael Kahale, son of Aphrodite, a daughter of Hermes and a daughter of Dionysus, whose names Percy didn’t even know, and finally, Dionysus’s son Pollux were added to the list of the fallen.

“If we had stayed at the Cornucopia any longer,” Rachel said, “we would have been on that list.”

But Percy hardly heard her. He was thinking of Katie and Nyssa and Michael and Malcolm and the boys and girls he didn’t even know. They surely had mothers and fathers, mortal parents who loved them, siblings or lovers, people who knew them or cared about them. He felt angry, and he understood why Nico had been so blatant in his hatred of the games. He understood why his mother had been so against him competing. He’d always thought saving her was worth it, and for the first time, he was beginning to see the things that had to be sacrificed if he wanted her to live.

“You’ve been walking in the desert all day,” Hazel said. “How about you get some rest, and I’ll take the first watch.”

“I’ll stay up with you,” Rachel said. “Percy and Will can take the second watch.”

“I’m fine,” Percy said, his anger still in his voice. “I can take first watch.”

“You’re tired and dehydrated,” Rachel snapped at him. “The desert is not your element, and I won’t let you push yourself. Rest now. We’ll wake you halfway through the night.”

Percy frowned. He wanted to fight back, to push Rachel, but he was quickly realizing he wasn’t the hero he thought he was. She was right--it was a desert. He had no weapons. Hazel was the closest thing they actually had to a leader right now. All he had was a blessing from Hestia, still fluttering in his chest, but even that was fading. So he nodded and laid down, even though he wasn’t happy about it.

\--- --- ---

Jason Grace wasn’t happy about anything.

He hadn’t meant to join a team. He’d wanted to be on his own, survive on his own, if he was lucky, Thalia would lose to someone else, and he wouldn’t have to feel any guilt about fighting her. If he was unlucky, she’d win, and they’d have to fight. But he didn’t want to deal with anyone else in these games. It was between him and Thalia, and that was all he cared about.

And yet, somehow, he’d ended up on a team with Piper McLean and Leo Valdez. He still couldn’t quite figure out how it had happened.

Piper had approached him during training, and he wasn’t at all surprised by the way she flirted with him, but he had been surprised to find himself listening to her. And then Leo had shown him how to connect a spear and a battery-powered clock so that the spear could produce its own lightning, and he wouldn’t have to exert too much of his own energy summoning lightning.

And then the games had started and Jason meant to grab a spear, a sword, and get out of the Cornucopia as fast as he could. He’d watched Clarisse La Rue cut open the throat of the girl from District XI, grabbed a gladius, then ducked under one of Frank Zhang’s arrows, and run off before he got his hands on a spear.

He’d wandered west, thinking the cliffs were a distraction of the games and he’d find water as far away from them as possible. He wasn’t the only one with that idea.

He’d come across Leo Valdez standing between Piper and Nyssa. They were arguing about something, and he’d decided it would be a good idea to avoid them. Nyssa was backed by a boy from District IV and a boy from District VI. Five against one wasn't bad odds for Jason, but he didn't want to wear himself out unnecessarily early, or sustain an injury before he had food and shelter. But then the boy from District VI had seen him and all hell had broken loose.

Jason hadn't worried about victory--two kids from District IX, a daughter of Aphrodite, and a boy who grew plants weren’t a challenge. The real threat was the son of Athena, so Jason had stabbed him first. The plant-boy had been no challenge at all. And then Nyssa had landed a good hit with a hammer on his shoulder. He’d tucked under the blow and sliced her thigh. She’d bled out in seconds.

He’d turned and raised his sword to run Leo through, but Leo had held up his hands and stepped away.

“Whoa, man, we’re on your side,” Leo had said.

“Just put down your sword for a minute and let’s talk,” Piper had said, and Jason had done as she asked.

“Look,” Leo had started, “I’m disappointed you killed Nyssa and all--she sucked, but she was kind of cool--but I’m really glad you saved Piper because she’s the coolest. We have a proposition for you.”

Jason thought for a moment that listening to these two was ridiculous, and he bent to pick up his sword, but then Piper had spoken.

“You don’t want to do that,” she’d said and Jason had realized he really didn’t want to pick up his sword.

“Just listen to me,” she’d continued. “We’re in a desert. You won’t make it without help.”

And Jason had found himself agreeing.

Jason had meant to be alone. He’d meant to travel by himself and kill whoever was in his path until he met Thalia at the end of the games. But instead, here he was, walking west with Piper and Leo.

Every so often, he’d think he should just kill Piper and Leo before they killed him, but then Piper would say something to him and smile, and he’d decide not to kill them.

“I’m hungry,” Leo whined. “Piper you promised me dinner.”

“I can’t catch anything if you’re being loud,” she said sharply.

Jason watched them bicker like two siblings and something in his chest hurt.

“It’s a desert,” he said. “Food is scarce.”

“I can live off the land no problem,” Piper said, and tossed her head. “For example,” she gestured to a hole in the ground, “this is a snake hole. I can charm the snake out and Leo can cook it.”

Jason watched as Piper sang gently. Sure enough, a snake crawled out of the hole. Piper snapped its neck with her bare hands, thanked the gods for her kill, then said something in a language he didn’t recognize as Greek or Latin, and handed the snake to Leo, who turned out to be an excellent cook.

They had roasted snake for dinner and washed it down with water from a cactus.

Jason decided, with no help from Piper, that alone might not be the best plan after all.

\--- --- ---

Hazel Levesque was tired. Even the stars above couldn’t keep her awake.

“Is it about time to switch?” she asked Rachel.

“Soon,” Rachel said. “Let Percy sleep a little longer.”

Hazel picked up a fistful of sand, damp from the small pool, and pushed it around in her fingers. It was no surprise to her that she found a diamond in the dirt.

“So you see into the future?” Hazel asked.

Rachel sighed. “I can see paths of fate, I guess. I don’t know. I learned a few years ago that I have a good instinct, so I just trust it.”

“And your instinct is telling you that we’re trustworthy?”

“I don’t doubt you’ll turn on us the minute everyone else in the game is dead. And Nico would do anything to protect you, I’m sure. But whatever is happening right now…. It’s necessary. That’s the only way I can describe it.”

“Necessary for what?”

“I have no idea,” Rachel said, but Hazel could read people very well, and she got the feeling Rachel was lying. Hazel didn’t think Rachel had any intention of winning. She believed Rachel would die for Percy, but Rachel’s answer had made her uneasy.


	5. The Flood

Percy was not ready to be woken, but he was glad for it. He wanted Rachel to get some rest.

He and Will replaced Hazel and Rachel at the mouth of the small cave. Percy reached his hand out and let the small trickle of water from the rock run over his hand. It was cool and it felt amazing. He only wished it made a pool big enough to dive into.

“Percy,” Will said. His voice was wary and quiet. “Can I ask you something… sort of personal?”

Percy wasn’t sure what kind of question it could be. “I guess.”

“Have you really been training for the Games since you were a kid?”

“I started training when I was eight. That’s pretty much as young as they’ll let you start. Why?”

“You don’t seem like….” Will frowned. “The Careers you see on TV, and Jason and Thalia, Frank and Clarisse--you’re not like them. You’re….”

Percy didn’t know what words Will was looking for, but he remembered what his father had said to him before he left District II: You have your mother’s spirit, and mine. 

Will wasn’t the first person he would pick to talk to about this, but Will was sitting here now, and Rachel needed rest. Percy started slowly, because he'd been turning Hestia's words over in his head all day, but he'd found no answers. "Before the games started, the goddess Hestia approached me. She gave me a blessing, but I don't know what it is or what it means." 

"Hestia never participates in the games. She's one of the few minor goddesses who refuses to. What sort of blessing was it?"

"It wasn't strength or speed or even food it was...." Even now, the fluttering feeling inside his chest was fading. Percy still didn't have words for it. He took a tiny piece of the water and danced it between his fingers. "She told me I was different from the other Gladiators. And she.... She asked me to end the games." 

"That sounds dangerous." Will glanced up at the sky as if lightning might strike them both down that very minute. "But if you could do that, I think that would be really great."

"I don't know how," Percy sighed. "And I... I promised my mother I would win immortality for her."

"Would she take back her blessing if you stopped competing?"

Percy laughed. "My mother didn't bless me. She doesn't want immortality but I... I couldn't watch her die. I have to win for her."

Will frowned at him. "Percy, no Victor's ever passed the gift of immortality to someone else before. I don't know if the gods would even allow it. I never realized you meant you literally wanted to win immortality for her. I thought you just meant for her favor."

Percy dropped the bead of water back into the pond and buried his head in his hands. "I know. I thought--she didn't want me to do it but I thought--" He sighed. "Rachel probably could have stopped me but instead she came here with me. I wish I hadn't come here but I also feel like I'm here for a purpose."

"I've been thinking about that too, actually. My dad--When I went into the temple for a blessing, I was sure he would refuse to bless me. I’m not especially skilled in battle. These games ask me to be the opposite of everything I am. So why did he pick me, if not for a purpose?"

Percy looked back up at Will and saw he was staring at Nico. Percy wished there was something encouraging he could say about that, but he had all the same fears about losing Rachel. At least he had the comfort that Rachel returned his feelings, even if it was a small comfort.

"I'll help you," Will said finally. "Let's end these games for good. We'll refuse to kill anyone. They'll have to give in. And when this is over, I'll come back with you to District II and I'll find a way to save your mother. Maybe that's what I'm here for."

Percy stared at Will in shock. This was outright rebellion. It was direct defiance against the gods, but Percy felt no fear of retaliation. He recalled his father's words and Hestia's blessing. He felt stronger than he ever had before, as if he was surrounded by an ocean instead of a desert. He gripped Will's hand tightly, sealing their pact. "We can definitely do this."

The words were barely out of Percy's mouth when the rock beside his head burst apart and the trickle of water turned into a gushing waterfall that began to flood their camp.

\--- --- ---

"Water!" Leo shouted and immediately tossed his shirt aside and jumped into the small pool.

"Leo I wanted to drink that!" Piper shouted at him.

Leo didn't care. It felt so good after the heat of the day and he wanted to float in it forever. He cupped his hands and drank a huge sip.

"Be careful," Jason said, kneeling by the edge of the pool to take a drink. "You have to rehydrate slowly or you'll get sick."

Leo splashed water at him. "You take the fun out of everything."

Jason looked bewildered by this comment, and it made Leo like him more. Sure, Jason Grace was a deadly Career who could fry them all with a bolt of lightning, but he and Pipes needed that if they were going to stay alive. It was the Jason Grace who seemed so startled by them that Leo enjoyed. Jason was the kind of guy Leo loved to pickpocket back in District IX, but still the kind of person Leo could actually be friends with.

Leo climbed out of the water and flopped into the sand. He looked up at the Palm tree growing beside the small oasis and thought it was a rather pretty scene. A bit romantic under the stars, even.

Leo turned his head say something to Piper, but she was busy pointing out constellations to Jason. Leo sighed and looked back up at the stars. He should probably make sure Piper wasn't falling for Jason Grace. They were going to have to kill Jason as soon as they got him to kill Thalia for them. And then either Jason or Leo would have to kill Piper. Leo suddenly felt very cold at that thought, despite the fact that it was 95 degrees out and he was basically a personal space heater.

Maybe Leo could let Piper and Jason fall in love and kill each other. Or maybe he’d like them less if they fell in love. He looked back over at them and thought that probably he wouldn’t.

Leo stood up and stretched, ignoring the sand that stuck to his back. “Alright, Japes, what’s our game plan?”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “Japes?”

“Yeah. Jason and Pipes. Japes. Leo and the Japes. It’s our team name.”

Piper laughed and Leo felt warm again.

“The snake was pretty good,” Leo said, “and I’m glad we have water, but we are gonna need shelter when the sun comes up. That Palm tree won’t do a whole lot.”

Jason looked at the tree like it was a particularly difficult puzzle. “I could fly up there and cut down some of the branches. We could build a shelter out of them.”

Leo did not know Jason could fly. He wasn’t sure if he should be terrified or if it was just an added bonus to their team. At least right now it was a bonus. He could figure out how to keep Jason grounded later.

\--- --- ---

Water was filling up fast. Their small open-air cave that had been a haven from the other gladiators was now filling up like a glass of water. Percy wasn’t concerned for himself. Water was never a problem for a son of Poseidon. And Rachel grew up in District II. She was a strong swimmer. He had no idea about Will, Hazel, and Nico.

Rachel broke the surface and gasped for air. “Percy! What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Percy shouted, and dove back down for Will, who was struggling to get to the surface. He grabbed the collar of Will’s T-shirt and hauled him up. Even in the dark water, he could see Hazel swimming up for air. She seemed like a strong swimmer on her own.

Percy got Will up for air and looked around for Nico, but he didn’t see him.

“Nico still down there!” Hazel said. “He’s going to--”

Will grabbed onto the side of the cavern. “I can climb fine.” He pushed Percy down. “Go get him.”

As Percy swam down, he realized this was the opposite of what the games were about. He was going to save someone’s life--his enemy’s life. This was exactly what he and Will had agreed on.

He reached the bottom as fast as he could. Water was still pouring in from the cliff. He could feel the force of it, gushing from the rock. He didn’t think he was strong enough to push it back. He could feel it draining out the tunnel, but it was not draining out nearly as fast as it was pouring in.

He grabbed Nico and pushed off the ground towards the surface, drawing as much strength from the water as he could, and using it to propel him upwards.

They broke the surface just as the water began to spill over the top of the plateau and over the edges of the cliffs. Will, Nico, and Rachel were all soaked, but alive, and standing on top of the rocks as water rushed over their feet to the cliffs, back into the desert.

Percy laid Nico down and put a hand on his chest. “How do I know if he’s okay?”

Will knelt down beside him and opened Nico’s mouth. “He probably inhaled water.” He pushed against Nico’s chest and breathed air back into Nico’s mouth.

Percy watched, praying to his father and praying to Hestia that Nico would be alright. Will pushed on Nico’s chest again and pressed his lips against Nico’s. He paused, listened for breathing, then tried again. Hazel choked back a sob.

Percy had never tried to control such a small, unseen source of water before, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do. Will pushed again on Nico's chest and as he did, Percy rested a hand on Nico’s forehead. Water spilled right out Nico's mouth and nose.

But Nico still didn't move.

Hazel stifled a sob.

Will pushed on Nico's chest again. "Come on!"

As the sun stretched over the plateau, Will breathed air into Nico's lungs, and Nico coughed and groaned.

Percy, Will, Rachel, and Hazel all breathed out in relief.

"Thank the gods," Hazel said and she threw her arms around Nico.

He still looked dead in the pale sunlight, and not quite awake as he took in his surroundings. "Where are we?"

Percy told them all how the water had broken through the rock and flooded the camp. "I swear it wasn't my fault," he said. "Will and I were just on watch, and it was like a dam burst." 

The water was still rushing past their feet. He wondered if people would see the waterfalls as it reached the edge of the cliff. They would assume it was Percy's fault, and even if it was untrue, it did give away his position. He needed a weapon, and he needed one fast.

Hazel told Nico how Will and Percy had saved him. 

Nico stared at them with tired eyes. Percy expected a thank you, but when Nico opened his mouth, all that came out was, "Why?"

Percy wasn’t sure how to explain his and Will’s agreement, but fortunately Will answered for the both of them. "Because you're on our team, dummy. We need you."

"And we owe you," Rachel added. "You gave us food and shelter. We might not have survived yesterday without your help."

Nico seemed to understand Rachel's answer better.

"Well, now we're going to need new shelter or we won't survive the heat of the day," Hazel said. "All our supplies are down there."

"I’ll get 'em," Percy said, and dove straight into the water.


	6. Thunderstorm on the Horizon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's trying to please at least one of the gods, except for three Gladiators who have their own agendas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took so long. I don't know why. I think I just wasn't prepared to start killing characters and I didn't know how to introduce Luke's storyline. I finally did it. So here goes.

Frank watched the water pour over the cliffs in the east. The sound of water crashing into the sand filled the whole desert.

Bianca di Angelo sat next to him and stared east as well, chin resting on her bow.

They’d had the last watch, and had said probably two words to each other all night. Clarisse was still snoring inside the Cornucopia. Frank decided to let her sleep.

“Percy Jackson must be over there,” Bianca said.

“And your brother?” Frank asked.

Bianca didn’t answer. Her dark brown eyes seemed clouded. Frank didn’t know if it was concern for Nico, anger at Percy, or something else entirely.

“I went to District VIII when my mother died,” she said. “And then shortly after, Hades was kicked out of Olympus and District III was destroyed. I assumed Nico was dead.”

Frank knew that “daughters” of Artemis had some sort of immortality deal, but were still vulnerable in battle. He’d always thought it a little unfair for them to compete in the games, but he didn’t want to offend any gods by saying so. “That would’ve been… what, seventy years ago?”

“About,” Bianca answered. “Something happened to District III. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like time stopped when Hades was banished from Olympus.”

Frank wasn’t sure he wanted to know the details. It kind of creeped him out that Bianca, Nico, and Hazel had to be older than 80. And he didn’t even want to know how old Zoe was.

“I never thought I’d see him again. It’s… strange,” Bianca finally finished.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Frank offered. “Percy Jackson is powerful, but--”

Anger flashed in Bianca’s eyes. “I’m not concerned about him. I’ve considered him dead for a long time. And anyway, Nico is incredibly powerful, even for a child of Hades. There’s a reason Hades chose him to compete in these games. He’d turn on Percy Jackson in a heartbeat.”

Frank mumbled an agreement. He’d only been trying to comfort her. But if she was so sure that her brother would be treacherous, Frank wondered if he could trust her. He stood, suddenly uncomfortable next to Bianca.

He walked over to one of the bags of fresh fruit and pulled out an apple for himself. He wondered if he should make breakfast for everyone.

He’d teamed up with Clarisse because it was convenient. They were both children of Ares, and even though she’d sneered at his clumsiness in training, she seemed to recognize his hidden talents. That was great, because even Frank didn’t understand his hidden talents.

Clarisse had been determined to take the Cornucopia. She’d insisted they had the skill for it, and it would be the easiest point to defend, with the most resources. Frank knew that the Cornucopia would be a bloodbath, but it was also clear Jason and Thalia had no intention of fighting each other as long as they had the choice, and Percy had not chosen a team powerful enough to hold the Cornucopia, so that left it to Frank and Clarisse.

But the two of them alone didn’t have the manpower to defend the Cornucopia for the duration of the game, so Frank had convinced Clarisse to team up with the archers. They would provide long-range defense and could hunt if necessary. It had taken some convincing, but Clarisse finally accepted that they would need additional help.

Frank was a little nervous about what today would bring, though. Would Clarisse turn on Bianca, Zoe, and Michael? Or would the archers turn on them? Frank knew no one would be content to sit at the Cornucopia and sing campfire songs. They needed to go out and fight or they would fight each other. 

He looked out to the cliffs. It was an easy target. They knew Percy Jackson was there, but it was reasonable to suspect that Nico di Angelo was there. He looked back at Bianca. She would say nothing if he suggested they attack the cliffs, but he wondered if she overestimated her ability to disconnect from her emotions.

Frank took a sip of water then climbed to the top of the Cornucopia. He scanned the horizon, but saw no evidence of a storm or lightning. He and Bianca had seen lightning in the west last night, but now the skies were clear. Frank still didn’t know what it was. He wondered who had chased after it, if anyone. Those who understood the games would have gone west. In a real desert, water would be in the eastern cliffs, but in the games, water was always where it was least expected. If Frank sent his team west, there was no guaranteeing who they would run into, if anyone.

Frank climbed back down and found Michael and Zoe getting themselves food and talking quietly, eyes on the eastern horizon.

Zoe handed him the canteen. “We should send a team east,” she said. “Eliminate Percy Jackson.”

Frank looked at Bianca, and Bianca stared right back, as if daring him to challenge her loyalties.

“I agree,” Frank said slowly, “but we don’t know how many people are with Percy Jackson.”

Michael laughed. “Percy Jackson chose the weakest team anyone could think of. Will is a nice guy, but he’s not cut out for this game. And Percy’s girlfriend isn’t even a demigod. He’ll be too busy protecting them to defend against us.”

“And he’s out of his element,” Zoe added.

“Not in those waterfalls,” Frank said. “Whether he made them or they happened to be over there, attacking him so close to a powerful source of water is a terrible idea. He’ll need to come to us.”

“Do you have a better plan?” Zoe raised an eyebrow. Frank could tell his guess about everyone being eager to fight was right. He needed to give them a target.

“Bianca and I saw lightning to the west last night. That means it’s either Jason, or Thalia. Neither of them made large alliances. It could be an easy kill.”

Michael shrugged. “Sure. If we could surprise them, it could work.”

“Let’s eat and hydrate first,” Frank said, “make sure our camp is still defensible and the mines are properly set. Then we’ll wake Clarisse and decide the best way to divide our forces.”

\--- --- ---

Percy didn’t really mind a flooded camp. It had been terrifying for about thirty minutes, when they didn’t know if Nico was going to die, but now he thought it wouldn’t be too bad. He finally felt like he could defend his friends. They’d be safe. As long as he and Rachel could find food.

But if there had been any sources of food on top of this mesa, the water had probably washed them away.

Still, Rachel and Percy waded through the rushing water, searching for anything useful. Their clothes dried quickly in the desert sun, but their shoes remained soaked.

“If Hazel found fish in that pond, surely there must be something out here. Can’t you like, speak fish?” Rachel asked.

Percy shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t feel any fish. Maybe we should ask Will to shoot down some birds.”

“You might be better at archery, the way he talks about himself.”

“I’m pretty poor at archery.”

“You knew enough to impress Nico.”

“I guess that’s a good thing because we’d be dead without him.”

“And he’d be dead without you.”

Percy kicked at the water. “It’s kind of complicated--”

“You did the right thing.”

He turned to look at Rachel. “You really think so? You’re not going to tell me that I’m going to get myself killed because I’m too busy trying to save someone?”

“That may be true but….” Rachel shrugged her shoulders. “I can’t explain it, but I think you and Will made the right call today. I think he was glowing from a blessing when we left.”

“Oh. I thought that was just the sunrise.”

“I think it was Apollo’s sign of approval.”

“Right now, what we need is some food.” Percy shielded his eyes and looked up at the sky. “Dad, a fish would be great, if you could help out. Like, maybe a really big shark, but with no teeth.” But there was no answer from the clear blue sky, nor did any fish spawn at Percy’s feet. He sighed, and he and Rachel moved on.

\--- --- ---

Piper watched the sunrise, too uneasy to take any pleasure in its beauty. Their oasis had dried up in the middle of the night. She wasn’t surprised. The games didn’t like teams to get too comfortable in one place. Keeping the best resources at the Cornucopia was a guarantee that teams would have to engage in combat.

Leo shielded his eyes and looked up at Jason, who was scouting from the top of the palm tree.

“Pipes, we’re going to have to figure something out to keep him on the ground.”

“We have enough to worry about right now,” she snapped back. “We don’t need to think about that yet.”

“Just wanted to remind you,” Leo said, “in case you got distracted by the gaga eyes he was making at you all night.”

Piper’s cheeks were warm not because she was embarrassed Leo had noticed her and Jason flirting all night, but because the truth of his words stung. She couldn’t fall for Jason. She’d have to kill him. And, eventually, she’d have to kill Leo, too.

Piper had thought her charmspeak would make her pretty invulnerable. She could befriend anyone she wanted in the games, she could ask anyone she wanted to do anything for her--kill for her, get food for her, maybe even die for her. But once she’d convinced Jason to join them, she felt awful about it. She didn’t want to send anyone to die for her against their will. She’d even stopped charmspeaking Jason just a few hours after they’d all joined up, but she didn’t dare tell Leo that.

Aphrodite’s victors were known for their ruthlessness when it came to manipulating others, for convincing others to do their dirty work, and abandoning their team when they were needed most. Most famous was Aeneas, who had broken one gladiator’s heart so badly she’d killed herself when he left her. But Piper knew the truth. He’d left so he wouldn’t have to kill her, and it had broken his heart so badly he’d turned his heartache and self-loathing into viciousness and slaughtered the other competitors when he’d learned how she’d died. 

Less famous because she’d lost was Silena Beauregard, who’d fallen in love with a boy from District IX. They’d been championed as star-crossed lovers, much like Percy and Rachel were in this game. But the boy had died, and Silena had fought in his memory. She had lost, but Piper had seen the footage--she’d been eleven that year, just barely eligible--and she had always thought that Silena had never wanted to win. Silena had just wanted it to be over.

Piper didn’t know which path seemed worse. Winning, knowing you’d lost someone you loved, or dying. They didn’t seem that different from each other. She’d hoped to avoid the Aphrodite curse, but here she was, falling hopelessly in love with Jason Grace, a cold-blooded career who had volunteered the same year as his sister. What was wrong with her?

“I could just charmspeak Jason into killing you,” Piper said.

Leo laughed. “Beauty Queen, if you could do that, you’d have done it already.”

At least Leo thought she was ruthless enough to want to. Leo seemed to expect the worst out of everyone in these games. She would have to be wary of him when it got closer to just the two of them. 

Jason landed next to them, face grim. “There are three headed our direction, from the Cornucopia.”

“Clarisse?” Leo asked.

“Probably. Too hard to tell this far away.”

“I could talk to them,” Piper said.

“Their arrows will reach farther than your voice,” Jason said, and unsheathed his gladius. “I say we take them, then take the Cornucopia. We’re going to need supplies anyway.”

Piper thought that was a very, “do or die,” situation to be in. She liked working her way out of difficult places, she liked making her own path where people told her there was none. She did not like the idea of jumping into a battle and closing all other doors.

“We should have an escape plan,” she insisted, “just in case.”

“Pipes,” Leo hissed, “this was the escape plan. Grace kills for us, we walk away scot free.”

“I know, but….” Piper couldn’t finish her thought. She wanted to say, “What if Jason gets hurt?” but that was a stupid thing to say in these games.

“We’ll all have to fight,” Jason said.

Leo laughed. “You killed three people single-handedly before. Can’t you do it again?”

“That was… far less challenging. Whoever’s coming our way is a well-trained warrior. I won’t be able to take them alone.”

Leo sighed. “Fine, fine.” He started tearing apart their palm-branch shelter and spreading the leaves out in the sand.

“What are you doing?” Piper asked.

“Those archers are going to fire on us any minute.” Leo pointed at what were still small specks on the horizon. “As soon as they’re close enough to aim, and if anyone of them have blessings? We’ll be screwed. So what’s an archer’s biggest weakness?”

Piper didn’t know.

“Visibility,” Jason said.

Leo pointed finger guns at him. “Bingo! Ten points to the career kid.”

Piper looked at the line of palm leaves Leo had made in the sand. “I don’t see how these are going to help.”

“Smokescreen.” Leo knelt next to the last palm branch and lit it on fire. It caught slowly, but the fire spread, and the greenery, still damp, created billowing clouds of smoke.

Piper pulled her shirt up over her face. “Now what?”

“Get out your weapon,” Jason said, “lie still, and listen.” He pulled his shirt up over his nose and knelt beside the trunk of the tree. 

Leo kept a low, thin yellow flame running over his hand as he took a position near the other end of their smoke screen. Piper pulled out the small dagger she’d managed to grab and waited. It was hard to hear much of anything besides the crackling and popping of the leaves as they dried and burned beneath the heat of the flames.

Soon, though, there were voices:

“They must have seen us coming.”

“Can we assume it’s the Hephaestus kid?”

“Shut-up!”

Footsteps in the sand were soft, and Piper had trouble pinpointing exactly where the three were coming from. It wasn’t until she heard the clanging of metal on her left that she realized they were close enough to attack.

“Jason!” she shouted, and an arrow slipped past her ear, clipping its corner. When they were waiting, the smoke had been a good cover, but now that they were fighting, the smoke wasn’t in anyone’s favor. She was afraid to stay still because she felt like that made her an easier target, but she was afraid to move in case she ran into someone. She looked down at the knife in her hand. Even if she couldn’t decide what to do when it would come down to her, Jason, and Leo, she knew what she had to do now. At least she could fight for them. And with a knife, she had to get close.

She headed in the direction the arrow had come from and hoped she wouldn’t bump into Leo. She didn’t bump into anyone, but she felt someone brush past her on her right. She turned quickly and thrust, hitting nothing but air, but catching a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye. Something hit her hard in the back. She went down and rolled to her right, barely dodging an arrow that thudded into the sand by her shoulder.

Piper fought down all instincts to throw her dagger at her attacker. She might hit them, but she would definitely lose her weapon and that was not a position she wanted to be in.

She rolled to her feet and slashed at the feet she could see. She nicked an ankle, but the damage wasn’t much. Her attacker kicked her backwards, and she grabbed their leg and pulled them down with her. She caught their wrist before they could stab her with an arrow, and with her other hand drove her knife into their stomach. The blood was warm as it dripped over her hand and her brain finally began to process who she was fighting.

The girl’s dark braid was still woven tightly, no loose strands, and draped over her shoulder. She wore a silver circlet and blood dripped from her mouth onto Piper’s face. A cannon sounded overhead. She’d just killed Zoe Nightshade, Artemis’s best hunter.

Piper pushed Zoe off of her and staggered to her feet. She was torn between throwing up and coughing her lungs out, but she didn’t have time to choose. Another canon sounded.

“Jason? Leo!” she shouted into the smoke. There was a sudden burst of wind. Piper shielded her eyes from the smoke and sand. When it cleared, she saw Jason using the winds to try to slow down Clarisse. She was stronger than him, clearly, but with the wind on his side he was able to slow her blows long enough to block them. Her sword collided with his, inches from his neck, and a gust of wind pushed her backwards. She shoved her sword forward and Jason deflected it, but only by a few inches. It’s sharpened edge grazed his hip and Jason gritted his teeth in pain.

Piper didn’t have time to think. She ran towards them. Jason’s wind kicked up a cloud of sand, but Piper ran into it and thrust her knife into the first flesh she felt, stabbing Clarisse in the back.

A cannon sounded. Piper pulled her knife from Clarisse and the girl’s body slumped to the ground. Jason panted for air. Piper panted. The dust settled and they looked to where they had last seen Leo.

Leo was lying in the sand beside Michael Yew. Piper ran towards him. Jason limped behind her.

Piper sank into the sand next to Leo and lifted his head. Thank the gods he was still breathing, but his skin was cold and clammy. She wondered if he’d spent all his energy creating fire to fight Michael Yew. She knew the fires had to sap Leo’s strength quite a bit.

“He needs water,” she said to Jason.

Jason collapsed in the sand beside her and Leo, hand on his hip to slow the bleeding. He looked up at the sky. “I could ask for a storm,” he said weakly.

Piper pulled off her shirt and pressed it against Jason’s wound. “Please.” She put all her charmspeak into the request, and she said her own prayer to her mother, hoping what she’d just done in battle was glory enough, and her mother could be proud of her.

Jason closed his eyes, and she watched his lips move, outlining a silent prayer.

 _If we both lose_ , Piper thought as rain began to fall, washing away Zoe’s, Clarisse’s, and Jason’s blood, _we both get Elysium together_. But she wasn’t sure Jason had any intention of losing these games.

“We have to take the Cornucopia,” Jason said. “As soon as Leo and I are well enough to fight.”

Piper bit down on her lip. She didn’t want to take the Cornucopia. She wanted to take Jason and Leo far away from all the fighting forever. She wanted out of this hell of a game. She wanted to wash the blood off of her hands. She just wanted to be a girl in love with a boy. Not this.

“We don’t have to,” she said. “Someone else will--”

“I promised my father,” Jason said, and looked up at the thunderclouds overhead. “I promised him, and I promised Hera.”

Piper blinked back tears. No, Jason wouldn’t lose. Jason would get immortality and Piper would get Elysium and both of them would be alone.

\--- --- ---

Hazel was the first to spot the thunderheads in the distance. They all heard the rumble as it rolled across the desert.

“Is it a blessing or is Zeus ticked?” Percy asked.

“No way to know,” Rachel said, though Nico thought she probably did know and just wasn’t telling. If she was an Oracle, then he was very suspicious of what Rachel claimed not to know. 

They sat at the top of the now dry cliffs in silence, watching and listening to the thunderstorm. There was no way to take shelter if the storm came their way, unless Nico could shadow-travel them out of here. He might be able to in the middle of a thunderstorm, but to take all of them he’d be putting his faith in them not to kill him when they got to the other side. For now, at least they were safe, and they had food thanks to Percy and Rachel finding a school of fish. The first three they’d burned had been in thanks to Poseidon, Apollo, and Hestia.

“Why Hestia?” Nico had asked suspiciously.

“She blessed me,” Percy said, in an off-hand way, like it was a totally normal thing.

“That’s not normal.”

Percy had shrugged and looked at Will for help, but Will had only stared into the fire.

They ate through the rest of the fish slowly. Hazel was a good cook and since they had no way to preserve the fish, they might as well enjoy them. Besides, Nico thought a little bitterly, it might be their last meal.

“It’s moving,” Rachel said.

The storm was indeed moving--in their direction.

“Should we be worried?” Hazel asked. No one answered.

The storm stopped over the Cornucopia. Lightning flashed in the black clouds, close enough to be simultaneous with the thunder.

“You don’t think Thalia or Jason made that, do you?” Will asked.

“No, it’s Zeus,” Rachel said, and no one asked her how she knew.

A cannon sounded.

“That’s four dead today,” Hazel whispered.

The storm did not abate. They could feel the winds on top of the cliff, but the storm never moved any closer to them. 

Nico found himself wondering if Percy was powerful enough to conjure a storm like that. Probably. Percy was a son of Poseidon, and storms were one of those things that Poseidon and Zeus managed to share. Fought over might be a more accurate term. If Percy fought Jason or Thalia, the storm that battle made might be even bigger than they one they were still watching.

Maybe the storm at the cornucopia was a battle between Jason and Thalia. It seemed early for those two to fight, those two who had been so determined to leave each other for the end.

Nico looked at Hazel. It wouldn’t come down to the two of them. He knew that. He would die for her. He hoped she could win and bring glory to their father, restore Hades to the Olympians, but Nico wasn’t optimistic. He’d do what he could for her. He’d give her the chance at immortality.

The sun set and the anthem began to play to honor the fallen Gladiators. Nico waited, desperately hoping to hear Jason or Thalia’s name. It would make their challenge so much easier if one of them was already dead.

From District V: Clarisse La Rue  
From District VII: Michael Yew

“Oh--” Will gasped.

District VIII: Zoe Nightshade, Bianca di Angelo

“No!” Nico got to his feet.

Hazel grabbed his hand. “Nico--I’m sorry.”

Nico had thought that seeing Bianca would be enough. He missed her terribly. But the games had only made it worse. She lived a different life than him, and it hurt, but at least she had been alive.

He pulled his hand away from Hazel, all thoughts of protecting her forgotten.

“Nico, where are you going?” Will shouted.

“I’m avenging my sister.”

It was dark enough that he could travel wherever he wanted in the desert below. He could materialize in a dark corner beneath the Cornucopia, kill whoever was there.

“Nico, wait!” Hazel said, but he was already halfway into the rock.

Then someone tackled him, pushed him through. He came out of the darkness as quickly as he could, accidentally appearing six feet above the ground, right beside the cliff. They dropped into the sand and Nico pushed someone very heavy off of him. He wanted to get up, but Percy pushed him back against the ground.

“Nico, don’t do this. You can’t take on a career pack alone. Jason, Thalia, and Frank are still out there.”

Nico stared at Percy. He felt power crackling in his hands. He wondered if there were bones he could resurrect nearby to hold Percy down while he went on to the Cornucopia.

“Nico, you can’t play their game. Don’t let them win.”

“I’m not letting anyone win.”

Percy glanced over his shoulder at the storm and Nico took the opportunity to kick Percy off of him.

“Don’t make me kill you, Jackson,” he growled. Though Nico doubted he could kill Percy anymore than he could kill Hazel.

“Please,” Percy begged. “Killing someone else won’t your sister back. Stay with the sister you still have.”

“If it was Rachel, you would do the same.”

“I wouldn’t--”

“You don’t know. You don’t know what it’s like--”

“I left my mom,” Percy said. “I left her, and I wish I hadn’t. I know, Nico. Even if I get to see her again, I’ll have lost Rachel. There’s no winning these games.”

The lightning cracked dangerously close overhead. Nico looked up and realized the storm was advancing on them. Did that mean Jason and Thalia were nearby?

“So what do you suggest?” Nico asked. “We sit here and do nothing? We refuse to kill and hope the gods get bored.”

Percy didn’t say anything, but he shrugged his shoulders, as if saying, “You said it, not me.”

Through the roar of thunder, Nico heard someone groan. A small part of him irrationally believed it was Bianca--she was a huntress of Artemis, a daughter of Hades, she’d survived somehow--and he ran towards it.

Percy was right on his heels. Though the wind whipped around them and rain began to sting their faces, the searched for the source of the sound. Nico’s chest hurt when he saw the injured Gladiator and he knew it wasn’t Bianca.

Percy turned over Frank Zhang, collapsed in the sand, arrow sticking out of his arm and his leg bleeding profusely.

“We’ve got to help him,” Percy said. He had to shout now, to be heard over the storm.

Nico stared at Percy. They had no reason to help Frank. The point of this game was to be the last one standing. They should slit Frank’s throat now. But Percy looked so desperate. Nico also knew the rest of their team was stranded on top of the cliffs with a lightning storm fast approaching. Percy had come very close to blasphemy moments ago, and the last thing Nico wanted was for the gods to take their anger at Percy out on his team.

Nico pointed to a small cave in the cliffs. “Take him there. I’ll get everyone else. But when I get there, I won’t be--”

“I know,” Percy said quickly. “I won’t hurt you. Just get everyone to safety. I’ll worry about you, and Will can worry about this guy.”

Nico hated the way his heart jumped when Percy said, “I’ll worry about you,” but there was nothing to be done about it. His crush on Percy Jackson was a waste of energy. This was a game of death, not love. And yet, how different were they?

Nico put his hand on the wall of the cliff and sank into the shadows of the rock. Percy had already saved his life once. Now Percy was going to save this total stranger. Percy had told Nico not to avenge Bianca. Percy had been totally serious when he told Nico not to kill.

But Nico knew you couldn’t survive this game without killing, and he had to survive long enough to protect Hazel. As Nico stepped out of the shadows onto the top of the cliff, he decided that if Percy wasn’t going to kill, Nico would just have to kill for Percy.

\--- --- ---

Luke was barely aware of the thunder and the cannons as he pushed open the lid of the sarcophagus. It slid easily under his fingers, which he was glad for, because after walking for two days with no food or water, he didn’t have any energy.

But he’d expected that. He knew that the elaborate, gilded coffin would not only be far enough away for neither the Gladiators nor the gods to notice, it would also be far enough away to ensure that Luke had to give up everything to get to it.

Luke was well-prepared to give up everything. He’d volunteered, knowing the game would probably kill him. But it wasn’t his life he cared about, it was everyone else.

Luke stared down at the body of Kronos. This was it. This would topple the gods. This would end the games for good and ensure that no child would ever have to endure this madness again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always appreciated.


	7. The Chasm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy faces Luke and Thalia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this whole thing is outlined, has been since I began posting it. It's just been a struggle to actually sit down and write what is outlined. I've got three large creative projects that have taken up most of my time (my original novel, the Harry Potter AU, and a top secret Percy Jackson project I can't talk about until it's done), so this project has taken a back seat I'm really sorry.
> 
> But I know how it ends and everything that's going to happen between now and the end, which means I'm fairly likely to finish it, even if I finish it slowly.

Annabeth was covered in mud, and, as grateful as she was for water in a desert, she wished that thunderstorm on the horizon would stop because she did not want a flooded camp.

Annabeth and Thalia had dug a nice underground pit. It had been shaded and camouflaged, a safe place to wait for Luke to return. Then that morning there had been a flood. She and Thalia had nearly suffocated in the mud and it took half a day to dig themselves out. They lost the few supplies they’d had — everything except Thalia’s spear.

Annabeth was glad they had a weapon, but she would kill for a canteen to hold water in. What was the point in the rain if she couldn’t save the water?

Thalia looked just as furious as she stared down the storm, though Annabeth guessed that was more about Jason Grace than anything else.

“He is really strong,” Annabeth observed as the sound of thunder rolled across the open desert.

Thalia shook her head. “That is my father, not Jason. A storm that size… maybe if we were together, but on his own? It would kill him. He’s not that stupid.”

Annabeth made a mental note that a storm would drain Thalia. She knew Thalia and Jason were going to wait until the end for each other, but if she could convince Thalia to fight Jason for her and have one kill the other, or at least wear each other down enough for her to win….

“Thalia, it’s been two days since we saw Luke. We need water and food. We have to either take the cornucopia or at least steal from it.”

“If we see Jason, I won’t fight him.”

Annabeth tried to pull clumps of mud from her hair, but her hands weren’t much cleaner. “Then I’ll fight him.”

“He’ll kill you.”

“Maybe. But so will dehydration and starvation.”

“We could try the cliffs.”

“Annabeth! Thalia!”

Thalia raised her spear as they turned to the sound of the voice. But it was only Luke, just a few yards away.

Annabeth dropped her guard and ran towards him; Thalia did not.

“Where have you been?” she shouted at him.

They met in the middle of the mud puddle that had consumed their camp. Luke brushed some of Annabeth’s muddy hair out of her face and laughed. “Looks like I missed a party.”

“We lost everything,” Annabeth said. “It’s all gone, buried.”

Luke looked down at the mud with a frown, then over at Thalia. Finally, his eyes turned to the storm over the Cornucopia. “Thalia won’t fight for the Cornucopia?”

“No.”

Luke’s eyes drifted further east. “Is Percy Jackson at the cliffs?”

“Probably. There was a huge waterfall earlier. But… with just Thalia’s spear, is fighting him a good idea?”

“It’s a great idea.” Luke squeezed Annabeth’s shoulder and walked towards Thalia. Annabeth noticed he was carrying something in his hand he hadn’t had before.

As he reached Thalia, she still didn’t lower her spear, but she listened as he suggested they at least go to the cliffs for water and shelter, since they had none.

Though Annabeth had her doubts, they were all eventually in agreement. The cliffs was the best place to go. And after that, they would have to face the Cornucopia.

Luke grinned at the two of them and started heading east. There was a strange lightness to his shoulders as they walked, a carefreeness that hadn’t been there before. And Annabeth wasn’t quite sure, but she thought that Luke’s eyes glinted gold in the starlight.

\--- --- ---

Percy felt useless as Will treated Frank’s wounds. 

Hazel was cooking food for everyone — everyone except Nico, who was in a deep sleep — and Will was bandaging Frank’s leg — “Just missed his main artery. We’re really lucky.” — while Rachel took Nico’s pulse. She repeated the numbers back to Will.

Will didn’t look pleased. He looked unusually stressed, more than he had when Nico completely botched the interview before the games. Percy didn’t know children of Apollo could get stressed.

“Make sure he doesn’t stop breathing on us,” Will said.

Rachel dutifully put her hand near Nico’s nose to make sure she could feel his breath.

“Can I do anything to help?” Percy asked.

“I would really like a needle to stitch his wounds up,” Will said, voice utterly exasperated. “And proper, clean bandages. And a disinfectant. You can’t make seaweed or salt water, can you?”

“That’s a negative,” Percy said. “Any medical supplies will be at the Cornucopia…. Or you could ask for a gift.”

Will gritted his teeth. “I think this morning’s blessing is all I can manage, but I’m praying with everything I’ve got. Maybe ask your dad for some seaweed. That might be more manageable.”

Percy wished that were true, but Zeus and Poseidon rarely showed favoritism to their children. He’d managed to get a blessing of fish from his dad that morning, and he figured the rest of the game would be up to his skill alone. The more powerful gods hardly blessed their children, since their skill was supposed to be greater than that of other demigods. Percy might’ve thought that was true before the games, but now he felt as helpful to the team as a cactus. 

Hazel handed him a smoked fish. “Why don’t you rest and eat? You’ve worked really hard today.”

“I haven’t —”

“You rescued Nico. You rescued our weapons and some of our supplies. You found us food. You deserve a break.”

Percy didn’t feel like he could relax in the least. Then Rachel put a hand on his knee and he obediently laid down and closed his eyes.

He wasn’t sure he actually fell asleep. He listened to Will and Rachel quietly discuss their options. He heard Hazel whisper comforting things to someone — Percy honestly wasn’t sure if it was Frank or Nico. He heard his father’s voice, which should have told him he was dreaming, but it was sort of possible his father was actually speaking to him.

“You have your mother’s spirit, and mine. I only ask that you end the games.”

Percy didn’t understand. Hestia had asked him to end the Gladiator Games. Surly his father didn’t agree with her? Was it a rivalry with Zeus thing? Or were these just dreams that didn’t mean anything, and it was only his mind mixing up his memories.

Percy sat up and rubbed his eyes. The storm had died down, and the sky was a cold, pre-dawn gray. He turned his brief dream over in his head, but found no more answers. He couldn’t believe his father wanted to end these games. Olympians enjoyed so much power and honor because of these games. Someone like Hestia, forgotten and shoved aside, sure, but Poseidon? That wasn’t right.

He looked at his team, those who had joined him because they believed him powerful enough to protect them. Hazel sat between Nico and Frank, holding each of their hands. Will was leaning against the wall of their small cave, shirt gone, torn into bandages for Frank. He looked exhausted, eyes slipping closed every few minutes. He forced them open, checked on Frank’s wound, then went back to leaning against the wall trying not to fall asleep.

Rachel stood at the cave entrance, watching the sky. Her eyes were focused on something, but Percy had no idea what. He walked towards her and took her hand.

“What do you see?” he asked her.

“Nothing.”

“Rachel….”

She said nothing for a long time. Percy thought he saw tears prick the corners of her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away and finally turned to look at Percy.

“You can do this,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Things are about to get very hard for you, but trust that you’re going to make it. You carry hope with you.” She pressed a hand on his chest. Percy felt that fluttering he had when Hestia blessed him.

“You’re coming with me,” he said. “We’re leaving these games together. All of us.” He looked at Will, Hazel, Nico, and Frank. He’d already convinced Will they weren’t going to turn on each other. Surely he could do the same for the others.

Rachel, however, said nothing.

Hand in hand, they walked back to Will and Hazel and sat down. Will rubbed his eyes and tried to sit up straighter when he saw them.

“Your turn to sleep,” Percy told him.

Will shook his head. “I need to keep an eye on Frank —”

“I can do that.”

Will bit down in the inside of his cheek. His exhaustion was tinged with desperation. “If he doesn’t get medicine, I’m afraid he won’t make it. He’s starting to get feverish. We’re nearly out of water and food. I know we can’t take the Cornucopia, but….”

“What can we do?” Percy asked. “If Nico was awake he could maybe shadow travel. Can you do that, Hazel?”

Hazel shook her head, copper curls bouncing as she did. Then she paused and bit down on her lower lip. “I am good with tunnels, but in the sand…. It might not be possible, but if I could construct a tunnel from here to the Cornucopia, we might be able to steal what we need unnoticed.”

“It’s our only chance,” Rachel said, eyes on hers and Percy’s hands. 

“I’ll go with you,” Percy said. “I’m the strongest, and Will’s exhausted. I might even be able to grab a weapon while we’re there.”

“Someone should be here to defend Frank and Nico.” Rachel still refused to meet anyone’s eyes. “Will’s the only one who will know what medicine to look for. It should be Will and Hazel.”

Percy liked that Rachel’s plan kept them together, but he didn’t like the way her words put a knot in his stomach, like something very bad was about to happen. The knot was attempting to strangle the fluttering hope in his chest. Percy wondered which would win out.

“It’s the best option,” Will agreed wearily. “If I can, I’ll look for weapons for each of us. It won’t do to be defenseless, not when we’re down to half the competitors.”

 

It took Percy a moment to do a count on who was left. Jason and Thalia, and their teams — Leo and Piper, and Luke and Annabeth. Two teams of three, against his team of five, and Frank. Exactly half of them were left alive, and his alliance was nearly twice as big as the others’. Surely that gave them a fighting chance.

Except for the part where their only weapons were Hazel and Nico’s swords, and Nico was going to be unconscious for who knew how much longer, and they were about to split their team up.

“Be careful and be quick,” Percy said.

Hazel put her hands on the sand beneath them, closed her eyes, and concentrated. It took a moment, but a hole opened up in the ground below them. “Hecate’s given me a bit of a magical talent,” she said, “so I can disguise us and buy us some time, but Percy’s right, we’ll have to be quick.”

“Percy,” said Will, “if you can use any water to keep Frank’s fever down, I need you to do it, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Use Nico’s sword if you need to,” Hazel said as Rachel handed her hers.

“Yeah.” Percy eyed the black blade lying next to Nico. It was a bit short for him, but it was certainly better than nothing.

“We’ll be back soon,” Will said, and followed Hazel into the ground.

Percy had the feeling he should pick Nico’s sword up now, that trouble was on its way, but he also knew that he did not want to let go of Rachel’s hand. He had the unfortunate sensation that letting go now meant letting go forever.

—— —— ——

Jason sat on top of the Cornucopia, watching the storm disappear over the cliffs. His father’s blessing had saved Leo and given him the strength he’d needed to take the Cornucopia. Since Clarisse, Michael Yew, and Zoe Nightshade had attacked them, only Frank Zhang and Bianca di Angelo had been there to defend the Cornucopia. It was a formidable team, even the two of them, and Jason was the only exceptional fighter in his team, but he’d turned it into a victory. He’d killed Bianca, and Piper had stabbed Frank, but Frank had managed to get away. Jason hadn’t heard a canon for him yet, which meant he was probably bleeding out in the desert somewhere. Jason wasn’t worried about him.

He was worried about holding the Cornucopia. Thalia was still out there somewhere, and so was Jackson. They were bound to come here eventually. He’d gotten one blessing out of his father, and he didn’t think he could expect another.

He looked down and saw Leo dragging supplies from the interior of the Cornucopia to its perimeter. He didn’t know what Leo had planned, but at least Leo was doing a lot better. All the fire he’d used up fighting Michael Yew had returned to him with rest and water. And food. Leo had gone through a lot of food for someone so small.

Piper was now going through their food and water supplies, organizing it into rations to last them for a week or more. Jason wanted to go down there and help her, but there were two reasons he didn’t.

The first was that it was foolish to have rations at the Cornucopia. There was no sense in planning for the long haul, because someone would come to take the Cornucopia eventually. And with only twelve of them left in the game, it couldn’t last much longer.

The second reason Jason didn’t help her was because he knew he needed to stop spending time with Piper. He genuinely liked her, and that was dangerous. It was bad enough that he would have to fight his sister. He didn’t need to fall in love with a girl on top of that, especially not a daughter of Aphrodite who had charmspeak powers. Unfortunately, as Jason watched her count the canteens of water, he felt like it was too late. He’d already fallen for her.

Footsteps behind him made him turn quickly, spear at the ready. Leo held his hands up and backed away.

“Whoa, man, just me. Chill out, Sparky.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Sure thing, Lightning Rod. But I need you to do your brooding elsewhere. There’s some intensive wiring in this thing, and I’ve gotta figure out what’s going on here. There’s a gearbox like, right under your feet, so if you could skedaddle somewhere else, that’d be swell.”

Jason obliged Leo. He didn’t know what good mechanisms in the Cornucopia would be, but if anyone could turn the Cornucopia into a weapon, it would be a son of Hephaestus, particularly a talented one like Leo Valdez.

He slid down to the ground and, against his better judgement, joined Piper. “Is there enough food for a good breakfast?” he asked her, a smile tugging on the corner of his mouth.

He watched Piper hesitate, then smile back at him. “There’s plenty. Leo could cook something, if we can tear him away from whatever it is in the Cornucopia that has him so fascinated.”

“I’ll settle with an apple for now.” Jason picked one from the bag Piper had set on top of a box that was stamped with a grain symbol. He wondered if there was fresh bread in there, or just wheat.

“Jason….”

He did not detect any charmspeak in Piper’s voice, only a surprising longing that seemed to echo inside Jason’s chest. He did not know what to say, and it seemed she did not either, because she only stared at him, searching for something, and Jason wanted so desperately to help her find it.

But neither of them moved. Neither of them said anything.

Finally, Piper stepped around Jason towards her pile of water. “Do you need anything to drink?”

“I probably should. Wouldn’t do to get dehydrated.” The sun was finally coming up over the cliffs, and Jason knew it would get very hot, very quickly.

Piper picked up a canteen and frowned. “You didn’t take any water yet, did you?”

“No.”

“Leo!” Piper shouted up at the Cornucopia. “What did you do with the water?”

“I didn’t touch your water, Beauty Queen!” Leo called back down.

“I’m sure there were thirty-six canteens here, and now there are only thirty-one.” Piper frowned at her supply of water. “We’d notice if someone was here, wouldn’t we?”

Jason scanned the horizon quickly and adjusted his grip on his spear. “It could be that son of Hermes. He’s still alive. Stay alert. I’ll check around.”

Piper pulled her knife out of its sheath. “I’ll come with you.”

The wise thing to do would be to tell Piper to split up. He could handle himself alone, and they would cover more ground apart than together. But he did not want to leave Piper alone. He did not want her to face any of the Gladiators without backup, so he said nothing, and let her follow him.

—— —— ——

“Someone’s coming,” Rachel said. She let go of Percy’s hand and turned towards the entrance of the cave.

Percy grabbed Nico’s sword. “Stay behind me,” he said.

The entrance to the cave was not particularly large, and it was not a particularly large cave. It was little more than an outcropping that had sheltered them from the worst of the storm. It made it a fairly easy point to defend.

On the horizon, Percy saw three figures approaching. It could have been either team, and Percy didn’t know which one he hoped it was. He’d promised Will he wouldn’t kill in these games, so which team could he most easily convince to stand down? Probably neither, if he was really honest about it. Thalia and Jason were too invested in their quest for glory to give his plan a chance. He was going to need a way out.

Percy searched for a source of water nearby. There was still water in the cliffs from both the storm and the flood. It was tucked away in crevices and tunnels. He could pull it out if he needed to, but it would take a lot of effort. He’d have to pull it hard enough to burst through the rock. He’d rather he didn’t need to.

This was not a good place to be.

“What’s going on?” a weak voice asked. “Wh — where am I?”

Percy glanced over his shoulder to see Frank waking up. Now would be a great time for help, but he didn’t think Frank was in any shape to be helpful.

“You’re alright,” Rachel said. “You’re wounded badly, but we’re fixing you up. Will’s gone to get you medicine.”

Frank looked between Percy and Rachel. “You’re… helping me? Why?”

Percy felt like any answer he could give might get him smited before the approaching team even reached them.

“Just lie still and rest,” Rachel said.

The approaching Gladiators were closer now, and Percy could recognize Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth. He thought maybe there was a slim chance he could convince Luke that they shouldn’t fight, but Annabeth and Thalia? That sounded hopeless.

“Percy!” Luke shouted at him. He raised his hand, like a regular greeting.

Percy did not lower his sword. “I don’t want to fight you!” he shouted back. 

“I don’t want to fight either.”

Though this startled Percy, he still did not lower his sword. “What do you want?”

Rachel was suddenly at Percy’s side, her hand on his shoulder. Her other hand held the arrow they’d pulled out of Frank’s arm. He remembered what she’d said before the Games had started about Luke having things up his sleeve. 

“We want the same thing,” Luke said. He was close enough now that they didn’t have to shout. “We both want these games to be over.”

The way Luke said it, Percy knew Luke wasn’t just talking about this game. He was talking about everything.

“How are we supposed to do that?” Percy had his own vague plan he and Will had put together, but he didn’t know how successful it would be. It hinged on trusting each other. Luke didn’t seem like someone trustworthy.

“These games are the fault of the gods,” Luke said. “If we topple the gods, we end the games.”

The ground shook beneath Percy’s feet. He knew that meant his father was angry. In Percy’s dream, his father had told him to end the games, but he had a feeling Poseidon did not approve of Luke’s plan to take on Olympus itself.

“How are you supposed to do that?” Percy asked. 

Even Annabeth and Thalia were looking at Luke like he was crazy. Apparently he hadn’t let them in on his plan.

“You’re like me,” Luke said. “You know these games are awful. You know we have to put a stop to them. If we destroy Olympus, we can make the world safe for future generations. No more gods. No more games.”

“Percy,” Rachel said in a low voice, “there’s something wrong with him.”

Percy didn’t understand what Rachel meant, but he knew he couldn’t side with Luke. He couldn’t go against his father, and Hestia had not asked him to destroy Olympus. She’d asked him to restore her to Olympus. That meant there had to be another way.

“You can’t fight the gods, Luke. Without them, what would we have? The Titans? That’s chaos, that’s terror, that’s not —”

“If you aren’t with me, you’re against me.”

Percy tightened his hand on his sword. “I don’t want to fight you, Luke. I don’t want to fight any of you.”

Luke extended his hand, and whatever it was he’d been holding grew into a six-foot scythe. Percy had never seen such a weapon before, but just the sight of it sent chills through his body.

“If you don’t stand with me,” Luke warned, “I will cut you down.”

Luke charged, and Percy barely managed to meet the scythe with his blade. The clang was loud, and a cold spread through Percy’s arms. His body suddenly felt like lead.

“A blade from the river Styx,” Luke said, voice as cold as Percy’s limbs. “That’s clever, but it won’t keep you alive for long.”

Percy thrust Luke off of him and charged forward. He wanted to keep the fight away from his friends, away from Rachel. He tried to think of a way he could fight Luke without killing Luke, but how could he do that? He swung at Luke’s arm, but Luke caught his blade on the scythe. Again, Percy’s body felt heavy. He felt like Luke’s scythe was draining power from him, or more accurately power from his blade, and his blade was doing everything it could to keep Percy alive.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Thalia raise her spear.

“Stay out of it!” Luke shouted at her, giving Percy enough time pull away. “We don’t need to kill more than is necessary.”

“None of this is necessary!” Percy said. “You can’t fight the gods, but we can stop this game. There has to be another way —”

“You can’t let the gods keep their power! After everything they’ve done? After all the children they’ve murdered in their revelries?” Luke swung again, and Percy barely managed to duck under the blade. A chill passed through his entire body as the scythe barely missed his hair.

“If we restore the Titans to power,” Luke said, “things will be better. It’s what the gods deserve!”

“The gods provide order!” Rachel said. “These games aren’t right, but if we don’t have the gods —”

“Rachel, don’t —” Percy turned, hoping she wasn’t too close to the fight. She couldn’t stand against any of these well-trained fighters, especially not armed with only a broken arrow. But as he turned, Luke swung. Percy rolled to the side, but the scythe cut through his arm. It was the smallest of wounds, nothing more than a scratch, but Percy felt like the line that connected his soul to his body had suddenly been cut.

He collapsed into the sand, panting for breath, struggling to regain control of his body, but everything was heavy. Even moving his fingers seemed impossible.

“Percy!” Rachel shouted.

Luke stood over him and kicked aside Nico’s sword. “Percy, I want you on my side. Please.” His voice seemed earnest, but there was a coldness in his golden eyes that made Percy shudder. Had Luke’s eyes always been gold?

“This isn’t right,” Percy said. His voice sounded distant and weak. Something as simple as talking was as difficult as fighting a minotaur. “We don’t have to kill each other, and we don’t have to kill the gods.”

Luke frowned. “I thought you’d understand, you of all people.” He raised his scythe.

This was it then, Percy thought. He’d volunteered to save his mother and he was going to die in the hands of a boy who wanted to fight the gods. Perhaps Zeus or Poseidon could intervene and strike down Luke, but it was unwise for them to destroy a champion directly in the games. Unless one of them suddenly blessed Percy with strength or invincibility —

But Percy felt no surge of power as Luke bright his scythe down. Instead, he saw a flash of brilliant red hair. Luke’s scythe collided with Rachel.

“No!” Percy shouted as it cut through her body. There was no blood, no visible damage, but she dropped as quickly as Percy had. Percy found the strength to stand, empowered by rage and grief. “Rachel —” but her green eyes were hollow and lifeless. Whatever properties Luke’s scythe had had been rendered upon Rachel in full.

A cannon sounded in the distance.

“It doesn’t have to be like this, Percy,” Luke said, but Percy wasn’t listening anymore.

The ground shook beneath his feet again. Percy reached out and pulled all the water he could feel from the cliffs. Rock gave way to water, and the cliffs exploded in a violent shower. The sand beneath their feet turned to mud, the water rushed around them, and only Percy stood strong against its tide.

Thalia and Annabeth were knocked off their feet, and Luke was forced two feet back. He dug his heels into the mud and raised his scythe again. It had a long enough reach that it could get to Percy, even at this distance.

Percy used the water to bring his sword back to him. He charged forward, faster in the water than he had been without it. His sword caught Luke in the thigh, and he thought surely he had an advantage now.

But Luke did not collapse, he barely flinched. The wound Percy had dealt began to heal, far more quickly. What should have taken weeks was repaired in seconds.

“What —”

Luke swung his scythe, but he was slow in water where Percy was fast, and Percy had enough time to get away.

“You can’t kill me, Percy,” Luke said. “You can’t win this fight. Time is on my side.”

Percy thought as long as he had water on his side, he could win any fight. He had until the water sank into the sand, which was, unfortunately, not long. And whatever it was that Luke had just done — heal himself? Speed up time? Percy didn’t understand — was not a skill a son of Hermes had. What game was Luke playing?

“This is my element!” Percy said. “You can’t beat me here. We don’t have to do this. We can work together!”

“You can’t let the gods get away with what they’ve done!” Luke charged Percy this time, careful to swing his scythe above the water level, so its speed remained unimpaired.

Percy was still faster, and having learned from his first few attempts, did not meet the scythe with his sword. Instead, he used the water to push his body out of Luke’s reach. 

“Luke, what are you doing?” This was Annabeth, back on her feet, fighting the current to get closer to Luke. “This isn’t what we agreed on!” 

Thalia was suddenly beside her, holding her back. “Do not get close to that weapon.” Thalia kept her eyes on Luke’s scythe. “It’s not normal — it’s not of the gods.”

That much, Percy had figured. Between the deadness it had put in his body, and the way it had cut Rachel into two without actually cutting her, he’d figured it was some sort of horrifying weapon, probably made by a Titan, since that was what Luke had practically admitted he was drawing his power from.

Percy agreed with Thalia, that he couldn’t get too close to Luke, but he didn’t know what he could do. Any wound he inflicted, Luke could heal. Maybe he could deal an immediately deadly blow, but that would mean breaking his promise to not kill other demigods in the games. Did Luke count as a demigod anymore though?

Percy charged forward again, and this time Luke managed to block his strike. Percy was prepared for his arms to become dead weight, so he adapted. He used their weight, their uselessness, and the water to drop him below the scythe, and thrust his sword into Luke’s gut.

Percy pushed away quickly, before Luke could recover. This time, at least, Luke reacted to the wound, crouching low, but Percy could tell the wound wasn’t going to keep Luke down for long, and Percy was running out of water. Its level had dropped to his knees. He tried to pull it closer to him, but the sand was leeching it from his power fast.

This was a game of time, and no matter how much water Percy had, Luke had the upperhand. 

Luke charged Percy, wound healed. Percy ducked. He twisted away from Luke, again barely missing the swing of his scythe. He felt the chill pass through him, and Percy used the water to carry him farther away from Luke. 

The water was down to his ankles now. He was out of ideas and out of time.

Luke looked at Percy, face cold and cruel now. The Luke who had approached Percy during training, who had apologized for insulting Rachel, who had smiled and said he was fighting for honor was no longer present.

Luke charged. Percy threw up a wall of water, the last of his resources and the last of his strength.

“No!” Annabeth screamed.

The blow did not come. Inches from Percy, Luke was frozen, a spear through his back, pinning him in place. Thalia stood, not far behind him, straightening from her throw. Annabeth had her hands around one of Thalia’s wrists like she’d tried to stop her.

Though the blow should have incapacitated Luke, he turned his head to look at Thalia. “How could you —”

“I won’t stand against the gods!” Thalia said.

“I’m doing this for you!” Luke shouted back. Percy dropped his wall of water. He thought he saw Luke’s eyes flicker blue and Luke let out a cry of pain.

“I’m doing this because you shouldn’t have to fight like this! You shouldn’t have to fight your brother or fight other children!”

To Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia’s horror, Luke straightened and pulled the spear out of his chest.

The wound healed almost instantly, and Luke swung his scythe. Percy did not have time to get out of the way. It caught his shoulder and he collapsed into the mud, the last of the water he’d pulled from the cliffs gone.

“It didn’t have to be this way,” Luke said, scythe at Percy’s chin.

Percy already felt his life being drained into the scythe, though it hadn’t cut through him yet. He struggled to move, struggled to breathe, and prayed desperately to any of the gods for rescue.

“No!” but the shout was not Annabeth’s or Thalia’s.

The ground shook beneath Percy. His first thought was his father, but surely his father had given him enough already. His second thought was Hazel, back with Will. His third thought was that he had already died, and the ground was going to open up beneath him and take him to Hades.

His third thought was closest to the truth.

A chasm began to form between Percy and Luke. Luke took several steps away from its edge, eyes wide with horror as bones began to crawl from the earth.

“You won’t touch him!” Nico was awake now, and he picked his way through the mud, hands outstretched. Muddy bones were yanked from the earth. Several thrust their way through Luke’s body and separated him from Percy.

The cracks in the earth began to spread. Percy felt horribly helpless as one of his legs slipped over the edge. He wished he could move away to safety, but he was out of power, all strength sapped by the battle and by Luke’s scythe. He dug his fingernails into the dirt, but the mud hardly offered a grippable surface.

“Nico!” he shouted. “Stop!”

But Nico either did not hear Percy or could not stop. The earth continued to open up and bones continued crawling their way to the surface. By now they had trapped Luke and were dragging him into the earth. Annabeth and Thalia had become separated by a chasm and were each doing their best to keep from falling into the earth. A couple skeletons crawled towards Thalia, but she kicked them away. Annabeth was less lucky. She slipped in the mud and Percy lost sight of her. He hoped she hadn’t fallen into the earth like he was about to.

“Nico!” he shouted again.

This time, Nico listened — or perhaps his body simply gave up from exhaustion as Percy’s had. He slumped to the ground and the bones collapsed with him. The rumbling in the earth did not stop. Percy slipped halfway over the edge.

“Nico!”

Nico lifted his head. He looked far worse than any shadow-traveling trip had left him, but he crawled forward and grabbed Percy’s hand. Both were covered in mud and found it difficult to get a firm grip, but eventually, Percy got his hand closed around Nico’s thin wrist and Nico hauled him up as a cannon sounded overhead.

Percy pushed himself to his feet. His legs were unsteady, but at least he could move them. He looked across the collapsing mud field and saw no more sign of Luke. He was gone, buried in the earth.

Thalia and Annabeth were standing now, watching Percy and Nico with wary eyes. All four were weaponless, sword and spear lost to the chasm below. That brought the fight down to skill and strength. Percy and Nico were both lacking in the latter, and a daughter of Zeus and a daughter of Athena surely excelled in the former. They could not win this fight.

“We don’t have to fight,” Percy said, and caught Nico as he fell forward.

Lightning crackled above them. “If I kill all of you,” Thalia said, “Then only four more stand between me and Jason.”

Percy realized that “four” Thalia counted did not include Annabeth. That was Leo, Piper, Hazel, and Will. Annabeth realized it too and took a step away from Thalia.

“Don’t fight us,” Percy said. “If we stop fighting, then the gods can’t declare a victor.”

“Do you really think that would work?” Thalia said. “How long do we wait until the gods say, ‘Yeah, you’re right, let’s not have the games anymore.’ How long do we sit here? Until we run out of food? Out of water? Until the gods send a storm or a hurricane to force us apart?”

Percy had not considered how long it would take. He had just hoped that if everyone laid down arms, the games would be over. He did not like how right Thalia sounded.

“We should at least try,” Percy said. “Luke was right about one thing — you shouldn’t have to fight your brother. We shouldn’t have to fight each other, any of us.”

“I won’t go against the gods,” Thalia said.

Lightning arced overhead, right for Percy and Nico. Thunder shook the already fragile earth. Percy barely had time to pull them both out of the way and they tumbled into the mud together, nearly falling off the cliff.

“Percy, we’re not going to make it,” Nico said. He looked up at Thalia, who was already charging another lightning bolt.

“Sure we can,” Percy said, and spat mud out of his mouth.

“Take shelter in the cave. I’ll protect you and Frank until —”

“I won’t leave you alone.” Though Percy meant those words to be comforting, Nico looked horribly pained by them.

There was another crack of lightning and thunder. Percy could not see the bolt, but he rolled to the left anyway, praying it was enough. Then there was a scream.

Percy stood, expecting to see Annabeth fried to a crisp, but instead he saw she had stabbed Thalia in the side. Annabeth yanked her weapon out and Percy barely made out the broken arrow Rachel had armed herself with.

Thalia, not one to be thrown by an injury, kicked Annabeth, sending her stumbling backwards into one of the chasms.

“No!” Percy leaped over the crack in earth and ran to Annabeth. He reached down to pull her up. “I’ve got you!” he said.

“You’ll just let me fall!”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Percy reached as far as he could until his hand closed around Annabeth’s wrist. He saw Thalia coming towards him, though her movements seemed slow, like two lightning bolts had drained her. She had one hand around the wound in her side, but blood was already seeping through her fingers.

Percy could let Annabeth go and fight her or figure out how to fight her from his position on the ground. He wasn’t about to let Annabeth go.

“Thalia, you don’t have to do this,” he tried, one last time.

“I can’t disappoint my father.”

Percy felt the same way.

Thalia kicked at Percy, but he grabbed her leg with his free arm, yanking her down into the mud. It was a horrible wrestling match, with Percy terrified that at any minute he was going to drop Annabeth or be pushed over the edge himself.

“Thalia!” Annabeth shouted. “Thalia stop, please!”

But Thalia had, like Percy, trained her entire life for this moment, and, unlike Percy, she wanted to be the champion Gladiator. She managed to get Percy’s leg twisted around hers until his knee popped, and as he bit down a cry of pain and struggled for balance, she pushed him over the edge.

Annabeth and Percy dropped together, but Percy managed to dig his hand into the earth, just enough grip to hold them both, but hold them for how long, he didn’t know.

“Nico!”

But Percy could only hear Thalia’s heavy pants above them. He wondered how much longer even she would last, between the energy she’d expended and the stab wound in her side. She might not even make it to fight her brother.

Percy’s hand slipped a half inch and he felt like his stomach dropped thirty feet. “Nico! Help!”

And there Nico was, right above them, reaching down for him. His arms weren’t quite long enough.

“Percy…. If you let her go —”

“I’m not letting her go! Just reach a little more.”

“I might not even be able to pull you both up.”

“Please, you have to try.”

Nico looked like he was in so much pain, and Percy felt bad for asking this of him, but there were no other options. Percy was determined not to let anyone else die in these games. He’d even save Thalia when he and Annabeth reached the surface.

Nico managed to grab Percy’s wrist with two hands, but his body was halfway over the edge of the chasm.

“I can’t do it,” Nico said.

“You can. You have to.”

The earth shook. There was no way to know if it was godly or demigodly, but the earth shook, mud fell into Percy’s eyes, and Nico, Percy, and Annabeth all toppled into the chasm below.


End file.
